The paper describes the application of IR-UWB technology for organizing the radio part of Radio-over-Fiber system. Four physical layer components are proposed and designed in the paper: three microstrip filters and UWB antenna. Firstly the effective SCRF mask was calculated to ensure electromagnetic compatibility with existing radio services. Then this mask was considered as a cost function for filters design. The simulation was made with Agilent Genesys™ and CST Microwave Studio. All the devices have shown good performance and could be implemented on one circuit board for reducing losses.

An ultra-wideband (UWB) inter-radio ranging technology with measurement resolution of +/-0.5 ft and range up to 0.5 kilometer under certain FCC regulation was recently introduced. However, measurement data are extremely erroneous due to stochastic variables in the device and multipath radio wave reflections. This paper presents fuzzy logic tuned double tracking filters as a solution to remove misinformation in the data. The 1st tracker locates the overall center of the data in the presence of the large sporadic noise. A fuzzy logic admits only neighborhood data to a 2nd tracker which takes care of smaller deviation noise. The fuzzy neighborhood filter approach has been successfully applied to clean up the UWBradio ranges. Experimental results are shown.

Ultrawideband (UWB) transmitters may soon be integrated into a wide variety of portable electronic devices (PEDs) that passengers routinely carry on board commercial airplanes. Airlines and the FAA will have difficulty controlling passenger use of UWB transmitters during flights with current airline policies and existing wireless product standards. The aeronautical community is concerned as to whether evolving FCC UWB rules are adequate to protect legacy and emerging aeronautical radio systems from electromagnetic interference (EMI) from emerging UWB products. To address these concerns, the NASA Office of Space Communications and Chief Spectrum Managers assembled a multidisciplinary team from NASA LaRC, NASA JPL, NASA ARC, FAA, United Airlines, Sky West Airlines, and Eagles Wings Inc. to carry out a comprehensive series of tests aimed at determining the nature and extent of any EMI to aeronautical communication and navigation systems from UWB devices meeting FCCapproved and proposed levels for unlicensed handheld transmitters.

This paper proposes a direct-sequence UWB Gaussian pulse of cognitive radio systems based on bridge function smart sequence matrix and the Gaussian pulse. As the system uses the spreading sequence code, that is the bridge function smart code sequence, the zero correlation zones (ZCZs) which the bridge function sequences' auto-correlation functions had, could reduce multipath fading of the pulse interference. The Modulated channel signal was sent into the IEEE 802.15.3a UWB channel. We analysis the ZCZs's inhibition to the interference multipath interference (MPI), as one of the main system sources interferences. The simulation in SIMULINK/MATLAB is described in detail. The result shows the system has better performance by comparison with that employing Walsh sequence square matrix, and it was verified by the formula in principle.

In this paper the use of hybrid WiMedia-defined ultra-wideband (UWB) and IEEE 802.16d WiMAX radio-over-fibre is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for multi-mode based in-building optical networks with the advantage of great immunity to optical transmission impairments. In the proposed approach, spectral coexistence of both signals must be achieved with negligible mutual interference. The experimental study performed addressed an indoor configuration with 50 μm multi-mode fibres (MMF) and 850 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) transmitters. The results indicate that the impact of the wireless convergence in radio-over-multi-mode fibre (RoMMF) is significant for UWB transmissions, mainly due to MMF dispersion and electrooptical (EO) devices with limited bandwidth. On the other hand, WiMAX transmission is feasible for a 300 m MMF and 30 m wireless link in the presence of UWB, with -31 dBm WiMAX EVM.

This paper presents a high performance and hardware efficient packet detection structure, which employs a cross correlator for the M-sample time delayed correlation operation and a signal power calculator using the received input samples less than or equal to a zero-padded suffix of length M. We investigate the detailed characteristics of the proposed packet detector. In this paper, the performance of a class of packet detection algorithms in the ultra-wideband (UWB) channel environments is also studied. The best packet detection algorithm for the multi-band orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM) UWB transmission is determined through analysis and extensive simulations. The results of analysis show that the proposed packet detection structure has advantages in the hardware complexity as well as performance when compared with the existing packet detection structures. In order to effectively conduct the packet detection before the automatic gain control (AGC) mode, we investigate the effects of both a frequency offset and the initial gain level of a variable gain amplifier (VGA) on the performance of the packet detection. We also suggest a VGA gain control technique to enhance the performance of packet detection.

An inhomogeneous anisotropic (IA) artificial material (AM) is proposed having epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) characteristics and effective refractive index >1, simultaneously, in the same direction. Further, the proposed IA-AM is utilized for the gain enhancement of Vivaldi antenna for ultra-wideband (UWB) applications. The IA-AM consists of two types of compact meandered line-based anisotropic artificial material with ENZ characteristics in two adjacent narrow bands of 5.5-8.5 and 8-11.5 GHz. However, the non-resonant behavior of the artificial material in other direction appears with high refractive index property in broadband region. The combination of both the unit cells with broadband ENZ and high refractive index property is used to improve the gain of the Vivaldi antenna in broadband. The proposed IA-AM-loaded Vivaldi antenna exhibits a gain enhancement of up to 2 dBi compared to the original antenna in the operating frequency band of 3.1-12 GHz with | S 11| < -10 dB. The proposed antenna shows nearly stable unidirectional radiation patterns with high directivity and nearly flat group delay.

An Ultra-Wideband (UWB) two-cluster Angle of Arrival (AOA) tracking prototype system is currently being developed and tested at NASA Johnson Space Center for space exploration applications. This talk discusses the software development efforts for this UWB two-cluster AOA tracking system. The role the software plays in this system is to take waveform data from two UWBradio receivers as an input, feed this input into an AOA tracking algorithm, and generate the target position as an output. The architecture of the software (Input/Output Interface and Algorithm Core) will be introduced in this talk. The development of this software has three phases. In Phase I, the software is mostly Matlab driven and calls C++ socket functions to provide the communication links to the radios. This is beneficial in the early stage when it is necessary to frequently test changes in the algorithm. Phase II of the development is to have the software mostly C++ driven and call a Matlab function for the AOA tracking algorithm. This is beneficial in order to send the tracking results to other systems and also to improve the tracking update rate of the system. The third phase is part of future work and is to have the software completely C++ driven with a graphics user interface. This software design enables the fine resolution tracking of the UWB two-cluster AOA tracking system.

A novel technique and structure that maximizes the extraction of information from reference pulses for UWB-TR receivers is introduced. The scheme efficiently processes an incoming signal to suppress different types of UWB as well as non-UWB interference prior to signal detection. Such a method and system adds a feedback loop mechanism to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of reference pulses in a conventional TR receiver. Moreover, sampling the second order statistical function such as, for example, the autocorrelation function (ACF) of the received signal and matching it to the ACF samples of the original pulses for each transmitted bit provides a more robust UWB communications method and system in the presence of channel distortions.

Radio-over-fiber (RoF) schemes offer the possibility of permitting direct access to native format services for the domestic user. A low power requirement and cost effectiveness are crucial to both the service provider and the end user. Here, we present an ultra-low cost and power RoF scheme using direct modulation of commercially-available 1344 nm and 1547 nm VCSELs by band-group 1 UWB wireless signals (ECMA-368) at near broadcast power levels. As a result, greatly simplified electrical-optical-electrical conversion is accomplished. A successful demonstration over a transmission distance of 20.1 km is described using a SSMF, CWDM optical network. EVMs of better than -18.3 dB were achieved. PMID:22274019

An ultra-wideband (UWB) dual impulse transmitter is made up of a trigger edge selection circuit actuated by a single trigger input pulse; a first step recovery diode (SRD) based pulser connected to the trigger edge selection circuit to generate a first impulse output; and a second step recovery diode (SRD) based pulser connected to the trigger edge selection circuit in parallel to the first pulser to generate a second impulse output having a selected delay from the first impulse output.

Ultra-wideband (UWB), also known as impulse or carrier-free radio technology, is one promising new technology. In February 2002, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the deployment of this technology. It is increasingly recognized that UWB technology holds great potential to provide significant benefits in many terrestrial and space applications such as precise positioning/tracking and high data rate mobile wireless communications. This talk presents an introduction to UWB technology and some applications on space exploration. UWB is characterized by several uniquely attractive features, such as low impact on other RF systems due to its extremely low power spectral densities, immunity to interference from narrow band RF systems due to its ultra-wide bandwidth, multipath immunity to fading due to ample multipath diversity, capable of precise positioning due to fine time resolution, capable of high data rate multi-channel performance. The related FCC regulations, IEEE standardization efforts and industry activities also will be addressed in this talk. For space applications, some projects currently under development at NASA Johnson Space Center will be introduced. These include the UWB integrated communication and tracking system for Lunar/Mars rover and astronauts, UWB-RFID ISS inventory tracking, and UWB-TDOA close-in high resolution tracking for potential applications on robonaut.

An all-optical incoherent scheme for generation of binary phase-coded ultra-wideband (UWB) signals is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The binary phase coding is performed based on all-optical phase modulation in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and phase modulation to intensity modulation (PM-IM) conversion in a fiber delay interferometer (DI) that serves as a multichannel frequency discriminator. By locating the phase-modulated light waves at the positive and negative slopes of the DI transmission spectra, binary phase encoded UWB codes (0 and π) are generated. We also experimentally demonstrate a bipolar UWB coding system with a code length of 4, operating at 1.25 Gb/s. And the decoding is analyzed as well. Our proposed system has potential application in future high-speed UWB impulse radio over optical fiber access networks. PMID:21643312

Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) technology for wireless multiple access communications are receiving great interest for the last five years due to its unique features such as spectrum coexistence with other wireless services, RF front-end simplicity (enabling potential low cost terminals), good radio wave propagation (robust against multi-path fading, material penetration) and high bitrate. Low-cost UWB technology can be employed to provide simultaneous communications and vehicular radar capabilities. In this paper, the application of vehicle-to-vehicle (C2C), infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2C), communication and vehicular radar (VRAD) based on UWB technology are proposed altogether the required fiber-optics infrastructure, with the advantage of being flexible, cost-effective, reliable, fast and secure. The experimental validation and comparison for the optical generation of UWB signals combined with radio-over-fiber transmission is also reported in this work applied to vehicular communications. Both impulse-radio (IR-UWB) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM-UWB) signals are generated and their performance are evaluated experimentally in the 3.1-10.6 GHz frequency range. Up-conversion in the 60 GHz wireless band is also herein reported.

UWB communication is essentially the transmission and receiving of ultra short electromagnetic energy pulses. Short pulses mean wide bandwidths, often greatly exceeding 25% of the nominal center frequency. Modern UWBradio is characterized by very low power transmission (in the range of tens of microwatts) and wide bandwidths (greater than a gigahertz). One of the major applications of Ultra-wide band technology has been for detection and tracking of intruders in different environments. Based on some of our previous work [1,2] we developed a hybrid Ray-tracing/FDTD technique to study the indoor and outdoor propagation of UWB signals. The basic goal of this paper is to describe the experimental and simulation studies that were conducted to locate and track an intruder inside a UWB sensor web system. The sensor was developed using the Time Domain P-200 device and the software was developed using MATLAB. Return scans from UWB devices are analyzed to determine the noise floor and the signal strength. Using the noise floor level a threshold level is set above which the alarm will be triggered to determine the presence of an intruder. The probability of false alarm (PFA) is also determined using the Signal-to-Noise ratio and the threshold. We vary the PFA to lower the false alarm to a minimum level. We also determine the noise statistics of the system using Non-parametric Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test. Using this basic UWB sensor web system we will try to determine the physical dimensions of the intruder and also track multiple intruders on the system.

An ultra wideband (UWB) technology is a potential candidate for implant body area networks (BANs), where wireless communications are established between inside and outside of a human body. The UWB can accomplish higher data rate than the other frequency band for the implant communication. However, due to its high frequencies, the UWB signals suffer from quite large attenuation in the implant communication link, which makes it difficult to achieve reliable communications. For achieving reliable communication, it is well known that a spatial diversity technique is efficient without any frequency extension. In our previous works, we developed a transmit polarization diversity antenna for the UWB implant communication. However, optimal UWB modulation scheme for transmit diversity were rarely discussed. In this paper, in order to investigate the optimal UWB modulation schemes for implant communication with transmit diversity, we compare the communication performances of UWB-impulse radio (UWB-IR) and multiband-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM). For this purpose, we first analyze the propagation characteristics in the implant UWB channel, which ranges from 3.4 GHz to 4.8 GHz, using a finite difference time domain (FDTD) numerical analysis technique. Then, we evaluate and discuss the communication performances of both modulation schemes for the transmit polarization diversity from the viewpoint of the BER and the required transmit power. PMID:26737529

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) presents many advantages over traditional wired endoscopic methods. The performance of WCE devices can be improved using high-frequency communication systems such as Impulse Radio-Ultra-Wideband (IR-UWB) to enable a high data rate transmission with low-power consumption. This paper presents the hardware implementation and experimental evaluation of a WCE device that uses IR-UWB signals in the frequency range of 3.5 GHz to 4.5 GHz to transmit image data from inside the body to a receiver placed outside the body. Key components of the IR-UWB transmitter, such as the narrow pulse generator and up-conversion based RF section are described in detail. This design employs a narrowband receiver in the WCE device to receive a control signal externally in order to control and improve the data transmission from the device in the body. The design and performance of a wideband implantable antenna that operates in the aforementioned frequency range is also described. The operation of the WCE device is demonstrated through a proof-of-concept experiment using meat. PMID:25571601

A new Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), tracking, powering apparatus/system and method using coded Ultra-wideband (UWB) signaling is introduced. The proposed hardware and techniques disclosed herein utilize a plurality of passive UWB transponders in a field of an RFID-radar system. The radar system itself enables multiple passive tags to be remotely powered (activated) at about the same time frame via predetermined frequency UWB pulsed formats. Once such tags are in an activated state, an UWB radar transmits specific "interrogating codes" to put predetermined tags in an awakened status. Such predetermined tags can then communicate by a unique "response code" so as to be detected by an UWB system using radar methods.

Ultra-wideband (UWB) radio propagation is investigated to evaluate the signal attenuation due to walls of common materials widely used in indoor environment as glass, wood and dry wall. This study is carried out by experimental and analytical techniques. Time domain measurements of the shielding effect produced by panels of dispersive materials are presented. The experimental set-up for UWB applications is also described. A procedure based on the transmission line (TL) theory applied to shielding problems is developed to calculate the field attenuation in frequency domain and the transient results are then obtained by the Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT). The analytical and the experimental results are finally compared.

This paper describes a design effort for a prototype ultra-wideband (UWB) tracking system that is currently under development at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). The system is being studied for use in tracking of lunar/Mars rovers during early exploration missions when satellite navigation systems are not available. The UWB technology is exploited to implement the tracking system due to its properties such as high data rate, fine time resolution, low power spectral density, and multipath immunity. A two-cluster prototype design using commercially available UWB products is proposed to implement the Angle Of Arrival (AOA) tracking methodology in this research effort. An AOA technique using the Time Difference Of Arrival (TDOA) information is utilized for location estimation in the prototype system, not only to exploit the precise time resolution possible with UWB signals, but also to eliminate the need for synchronization between the transmitter and the receiver. After the UWBradio at each cluster is used to obtain the TDOA estimates from the UWB signal sent from the target, the TDOA data is converted to AOA data to find the angle of arrival, assuming this is a far field application. Since the distance between two clusters is known, the target position is computed by a simple triangulation. Simulations show that the average tracking error at a range of 610 meters is 2.7595 meters, less than 0.5% of the tracking range. Outdoor tests to track the SCOUT vehicle (The Science Crew Operations and Utility Testbed) near the Meteor Crater, Flagstaff, Arizona were performed on September 12-13, 2005. The tracking performance was obtained with less than 1% tracking error at ranges up to 2000 feet. No RF interference with on-board GPS, video, voice and telemetry systems was detected. Outdoor tests demonstrated the UWB tracking capability.

Radio astronomical observations with state-of-the-art instrumentation will be critical for achieving the maximum science return from the GLAST mission. Radio nterferometers with baselines of thousands of kilometers, such as the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), will provide sub-milliarcsecond imaging of GLAST blazars. High-frequency VLBA imaging, repeatable at intervals of days to weeks, will image the region where gamma-ray flares occur in blazars and help determine the location of the gamma-ray emission. Multi-frequency arcsecond-scale imaging with interferometers having baselines of one to tens of kilometers, particularly the Very Large Array, will provide efficient discrimination among the candidates for unidentified gamma-ray sources. Pulsar timing with single-dish radio telescopes such as the Green Bank Telescope will enable accurate registration of gamma-ray photons with pulsar ephemerides for studies of the pulsar emission mechanisms. Along with these contemporaneous radio/GLAST observing programs, we will discuss briefly some of the recent radio programs that have been conducted in preparation for GLAST launch. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

This presentation discusses a design effort for a prototype ultra-wideband (UWB) tracking system that is currently under development at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). The system is being studied for use in tracking of lunar/Mars rovers during early exploration missions when satellite navigation systems are not available. The UWB technology is exploited to implement the tracking system due to its properties such as fine time resolution, low power spectral density and multipath immunity. A two cluster prototype design using commercially available UWBradios is employed to implement the Angle of Arrival (AOA) tracking methodology in this design effort. In order to increase the tracking range, low noise amplifiers (LNA) and high gain horns are used at the receiving sides. Field tests were conducted jointly with the Science and Crew Operation Utility Testbed (SCOUT) vehicle near the Meteor Crater in Arizona to test the tracking capability for a moving target in an operational environment. These tests demonstrate that the UWB tracking system can co-exist with other on-board radio frequency (RF) communication systems (such as Global Positioning System (GPS), video, voice and telemetry systems), and that a tracking resolution less than 1% of the range can be achieved.

Radio-enhancers, metal-based nanosized agents, could play a key role in oncology. They may unlock the potential of radiotherapy by enhancing the radiation dose deposit within tumors when the ionizing radiation source is 'on', while exhibiting chemically inert behavior in cellular and subcellular systems when the radiation beam is 'off'. Important decision points support the development of these new type of therapeutic agents originated from nanotechnology. Here, we discuss from an industry perspective, the interest of developing radio-enhancer agents to improve tumor control, the relevance of nanotechnology to achieve adequate therapeutic attributes, and present some considerations for their development in oncology. PMID:26362175

A new application of utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to sense wind turbine blade deflections is introduced in this paper for wind energy cost reduction. The lower UWB band of 3.1-5.3 GHz is applied. On each blade, there will be one UWB blade deflection sensing system, which consists of two UWB antennas at the blade root and one UWB antenna at the blade tip. The detailed topology and challenges of this deflection sensing system are addressed. Due to the complexity of the problem, this paper will first realize the on-blade UWBradio link in the simplest case, where the tip antenna is situated outside (and on the surface of) a blade tip. To investigate this case, full-blade time-domain measurements are designed and conducted under different deflections. The detailed measurement setups and results are provided. If the root and tip antenna locations are properly selected, the first pulse is always of sufficient quality for accurate estimations under different deflections. The measured results reveal that the blade tip-root distance and blade deflection can be accurately estimated in the complicated and lossy wireless channels around a wind turbine blade. Some future research topics on this application are listed finally. PMID:26274964

A new application of utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to sense wind turbine blade deflections is introduced in this paper for wind energy cost reduction. The lower UWB band of 3.1–5.3 GHz is applied. On each blade, there will be one UWB blade deflection sensing system, which consists of two UWB antennas at the blade root and one UWB antenna at the blade tip. The detailed topology and challenges of this deflection sensing system are addressed. Due to the complexity of the problem, this paper will first realize the on-blade UWBradio link in the simplest case, where the tip antenna is situated outside (and on the surface of) a blade tip. To investigate this case, full-blade time-domain measurements are designed and conducted under different deflections. The detailed measurement setups and results are provided. If the root and tip antenna locations are properly selected, the first pulse is always of sufficient quality for accurate estimations under different deflections. The measured results reveal that the blade tip-root distance and blade deflection can be accurately estimated in the complicated and lossy wireless channels around a wind turbine blade. Some future research topics on this application are listed finally. PMID:26274964

The usage of implanted wireless transmitting devices inside the human body has become widely popular in recent years. Applications such as multi-channel neural recording systems require high data rates in the wireless transmission link. Because of the inherent advantages provided by Impulse-Radio Ultra Wide Band (IR-UWB) such as high data rate capability, low power consumption and small form factor, there has been an increased research interest in using IR-UWB for bio-medical implant applications. Hence it has become imperative to analyze the electromagnetic effects caused by the use of IR-UWB when it is operated in or near the human body. This paper reports the electromagnetic effects of head implantable transmitting devices operating based on Impulse Radio Ultra Wide Band (IR-UWB) wireless technology. Simulations illustrate the performance of an implantable UWB antenna tuned to operate at 4 GHz with an -10 dB bandwidth of approximately 1 GHz when it is implanted in a human head model. Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), Specific Absorption (SA) and temperature increase are analyzed to compare the compliance of the transmitting device with international safety regulations. PMID:24110902

The present status of the project aimed at the realization of an innovative wearable system-on-chip UWB radar for the cardiopulmonary monitoring is presented. The overall system consists of a wearable wireless interface including a fully integrated UWB radar for the detection of the heart beat and breath rates, and a IEEE 802.15.4 ZigBee low-power radio interface. The principle of operation of the UWB radar for the monitoring of the heart wall is summarized. With respect to the prior art, this paper reports the results of the experimental characterization of the intra-body channel loss, which has been carried out successfully in order to validate the theoretical model employed for the radar system analysis. Moreover, the main building blocks of the radar have been manufactured in 90 nm CMOS technology by ST-Microelectronics and the relevant performance are resulted in excellent agreement with those expected by post-layout simulations. PMID:19163907

A simple scheme to simultaneously generate an on-off keying or bi-phase modulation (BPM) impulse radio ultra wideband (IR-UWB) signal and a baseband wired signal in the optical domain using a dual-drive modulator is proposed and demonstrated. Although the two signals have spectral overlap in the optical spectrum, they are located at different frequency bands when converted to electrical signals at a photodetector (PD), which can be well separated by an electrical filter. An experiment is carried out. Eye diagrams, electrical spectra and BER measurements show that the co-channel interference between the UWB and the wired signals is small for a single-channel 36-km fiber link to provide 1.25-Gb/s UWB wireless and 1.25-Gb/s baseband wired services. The inter-channel interference is also small and negligible when the link is operated together with two other 1.25 Gb/s baseband wired links, which demonstrates that a conventional WDM-PON can be upgraded to provide additional UWB services without affecting the existing services by modifying the modulators in the center office and inserting UWB antennas in the optical network units. PMID:22274021

NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) is well known for its role in commanding and communicating with spacecraft across the solar system that produce a steady stream of new discoveries in Astrophysics, Heliophysics, and Planetary Science. Equipped with a number of large antennas distributed across the world, the DSN also has a history of contributing to a number of leading radio astronomical projects. This paper summarizes a number of enhancements that are being implemented currently and that are aimed at increasing its capabilities to engage in a wide range of science observations. These enhancements include* A dual-beam system operating between 18 and 27 GHz (~ 1 cm) capable of conducting a variety of molecular line observations, searches for pulsars in the Galactic center, and continuum flux density (photometry) of objects such as nearby protoplanetary disks* Enhanced spectroscopy and pulsar processing backends for use at 1.4--1.9 GHz (20 cm), 18--27 GHz (1 cm), and 38--50 GHz (0.7 cm)* The DSN Transient Observatory (DTN), an automated, non-invasive backend for transient searching* Larger bandwidths (>= 0.5 GHz) for pulsar searching and timing; and* Improved data rates (2048 Mbps) and better instrumental response for very long baseline interferometric (VLBI) observations with the new DSN VLBI processor (DVP), which is providing unprecedented sensitivity for maintenance of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) and development of future versions.One of the results of these improvements is that the 70~m Deep Space Station 43 (DSS-43, Tidbinbilla antenna) is now the most sensitive radio antenna in the southern hemisphere. Proposals to use these systems are accepted from the international community.Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics & Space Administration.

Measurements of specific-absorption-rate (SAR) of silica 30, 50, and 100 nm nanoparticles (NP) suspended in water were carried out at 30 MHz in 7 kV/m radio-frequency (rf) electric field. Size dependent, NP-suspension interface related heating of silica NP was observed. To investigate a possible mechanism of heating, bovine serum albumin was adsorbed on the surface of silica NPs in suspension. It resulted in significant enhancement of SAR when compared to bare silica NPs. A calorimetric and rf loss model was used to calculate effective conductivity of silica NP with/without adsorbed albumin as a function of silica size and albumin concentration. PMID:23964135

A dual burst transmitter for ultra-wideband (UWB) communication systems generates a pair of precisely spaced RF bursts from a single trigger event. An input trigger pulse produces two oscillator trigger pulses, an initial pulse and a delayed pulse, in a dual trigger generator. The two oscillator trigger pulses drive a gated RF burst (power output) oscillator. A bias driver circuit gates the RF output oscillator on and off and sets the RF burst packet width. The bias driver also level shifts the drive signal to the level that is required for the RF output device.

This paper describes the development of a set of software tools useful for analyzing ultra-wideband (UWB) antennas and structures. These tools are used to perform finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation of a conical antenna with continuous wave (CW) and UWB pulsed excitations. The antenna is analyzed using spherical coordinate-based FDTD equations that are derived from first principles. The simulation results for CW excitation are compared to simulation and measured results from published sources; the results for UWB excitation are new.

This paper describes the development of a set of software tools useful for analyzing ultra-wideband (UWB) antennas and structures. These tools are used to perform finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation of a conical antenna with continuous wave (CW) and UWB pulsed excitations. The antenna is analyzed using spherical coordinate-based FDTD equations that are derived from first principles. The simulation results for CW excitation are compared to simulation and measured results from published sources; the results for UWB excitation are new.

An ultra-wideband (UWB) delay and multiply receiver is formed of a receive antenna; a variable gain attenuator connected to the receive antenna; a signal splitter connected to the variable gain attenuator; a multiplier having one input connected to an undelayed signal from the signal splitter and another input connected to a delayed signal from the signal splitter, the delay between the splitter signals being equal to the spacing between pulses from a transmitter whose pulses are being received by the receive antenna; a peak detection circuit connected to the output of the multiplier and connected to the variable gain attenuator to control the variable gain attenuator to maintain a constant amplitude output from the multiplier; and a digital output circuit connected to the output of the multiplier.

In 2002, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was the first in defining regulations for ultra wideband (UWB) communications followed by Europe and Japan some years later. Focusing on impulse radio (IR) UWB, in 2007 was the time for the first published standard targeting in personal area networks, released by the IEEE. The second IEEE released standard including UWB definitions is targeted for wireless body area networks (WBAN) and was published in 2012. As the wireless communications has been and will be passing through almost any levels in society, the natural step with WBAN is using it in different medical, healthcare and wellbeing applications. The arguments for these are related to the modern lifestyle, in which people have increasingly more free time and are more interested in taking care of their health and wellbeing. Another challenge is the population composition, i.e., aging in developed countries which call for new solutions and procedures, particularly from cost wise. In this paper, we are evaluating UWB receivers based on the IEEE 802.15.6 physical layer definitions and capable of detecting differentially encoded modulation. The evaluation is performed using two different WBAN channel models. PMID:24110027

An in-depth treatment of impulse an radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) wireless system is provided reviewing theoretical background, proceeding with detailed implementation procedure, and finally giving simulation and test results. This is the first research and prototyping work to be published in the field of IR-UWB that operates in the 6-8 GHz band. The aim of this work is to implement an IR-UWB wireless system for industrial automation that is robust and reliable. To achieve this, an analogue bandwidth of 250 MHz and digital baseband processing at the clock frequency 499.2 MHz were realized in a 250 nm BiCMOS process, integrating the complete system into a single chip. Simulation and measurement results confirm that the implemented IR-UWB transceiver is operational across four frequency channels in the band 6-8 GHz each supporting three data rates 850 kb/s, 6.81 Mb/s and 27.24 Mb/s.

The decimetric radio emission from the solar corona is both an effective indicator of solar activity and a proxy for the EUV solar emission, which can cause perturbations in the terrestrial ionosphere. Therefore the 10.7 cm solar radio index is widely used in various ionospheric models and in any models where a reliable quantitative measure of the solar activity level is needed. The time evolution of this radio index closely matches that of the 1-min Soft X-Ray (SXR) measurements, resulting in an effective diagnostics for flaring processes. In fact, the occurrence of decimetric radio flares is associated with that of the correspondent SXR signature. Hence, the capability of predicting decimetric radio flares is a fundamental feature for space weather applications. In this work, we present preliminary results obtained via an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach for the prediction of solar radioenhancements at 11 cm wavelength. The data used to feed and run the ANN are the 1-min average radio index provided by the Trieste Solar Radio System, a dedicated multichannel solar radio polarimeters' set operated by the INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Trieste. Different use cases are discussed in the framework of future developments for advanced space weather nowcasting and forecasting via radio diagnostics, based on the unique feature of TSRS which acquires the data with a routinary time cadence of 1 millisecond and this allows to get deeper insights of the events' time evolution and prediction.

Based on impulse radio ultra wide band (IR-UWB) technology, the measuring and positioning of moving array shape are discussed. Because there are no conditions of fixed receivers and clock synchronization in real outdoor or field surroundings, only choice is unusual asynchronous measurement method, therefore, the scheme of measuring and processing must be changed, though the current TOA (Time Of Arrival) method is used. The array shape and positions of moving objects are both required in the most situations. The direct approach is to increase the number of measuring point, and the positioning problem would be resolved by triangular surveying method. The solution is generic at first sight, but its sensitivity to time-of-arrival accuracy imposes the choice of impulse radio ultra wide band hard ware and soft ware in the very context. The algorithm scheme mitigates the impact of non-line of sight ranging errors on positioning accuracy without any additional protocol hook. More particularly, the realistic IR-UWB ranging error models we use take into account UWB channel effects, as well as relative clock drifts. By error analyzing and simulation under the proper operation model, results are provided to illustrate the relevance of such a solution.

In this paper, we discuss the hardware development of a UWB sensor node for wireless body area networks. A few unique UWB pulse generation techniques have been discussed. The sensor node transmits multiple pulses per bit to increase the average power of the transmitted signal in order to improve the bit-error rate (BER) performance. The multiple-pulse per bit technique is also used as the coding scheme to identify the individual sensor nodes when more than one sensor forms a network. The sensors nodes are able to transmit body signals up to 2 m with a BER lower than 10(-5). PMID:22254770

A simple pulse shape randomization scheme is considered in this paper for improving the performance of ultra wide band (UWB) communication systems using On Off Keying (OOK) or pulse position modulation (PPM) formats. The advantage of the proposed scheme, which can be either employed for impulse radio (IR) or for carrier-based systems, is first theoretically studied based on closed-form derivations of power spectral densities. Then, we investigate an application to an IR-UWB over optical fiber system, by utilizing the 4th and 5th orders of Gaussian derivatives. Our approach proves to be effective for 1 Gbps-PPM and 2 Gbps-OOK transmissions, with an advantage in terms of power efficiency for short distances. We also examine the performance for a system employing an in-line Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) with the view to achieve a reach extension, while limiting the cost and system complexity.

Ultra-Wideband (UWB) tracking prototype systems are currently under development at NASA Johnson Space Center for various applications on space exploration. For long range applications, a two-cluster Angle of Arrival (AOA) tracking method is employed for implementation of the tracking system; for close-in applications, a Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) positioning methodology is exploited. Both AOA and TDOA are chosen to utilize the achievable fine time resolution of UWB signals. This talk presents a brief introduction to AOA and TDOA methodologies. The theoretical analysis of these two algorithms reveal the affecting parameters impact on the tracking resolution. For the AOA algorithm, simulations show that a tracking resolution less than 0.5% of the range can be achieved with the current achievable time resolution of UWB signals. For the TDOA algorithm used in close-in applications, simulations show that the (sub-inch) high tracking resolution is achieved with a chosen tracking baseline configuration. The analytical and simulated results provide insightful guidance for the UWB tracking system design.

Purpose The telomere binding proteins play an important role in telomere function, which contribute greatly to the radio resistant in human cancers. This research is designed to investigate the relationship among the telomere length, telomerase activity and changes of telomere binding protein PTOP and TRF1 in radio resistant breast cancer cell lines. Methods Irradiate MDA-MB-435 s breast cancer cell with total dose of 60 Gy delivered in 2 Gy/fraction and 6 Gy/fraction respectively, then measuring their telomere length by Southern blot analysis,telomerase activity by Telomerase PCR Elisa and detecting the expression of PTOP and TRF1 in both gene and protein levels. To further investigate the function of PTOP, using lentivirus technic to silence the PTOP gene and the detected the new silenced cells by southern blot and telomerase activity. Results 2 radio resistant breast cancer cell lines were successfully established. The MDA-MB-435 s R60/6 was (approximate 8.1-8.6 kbp) about 2–2.4 folds to the patent cell (3.6-4.2 kbp), the MDA-MB-435 s R60/2 cell (approximate 5.3-6.3 kbp) was about 1.3-1.75 fold to the parent cell line. The telomerase activity was more enhanced in radio resistant cell lines than the parent cell. The expression of PTOP and TRF1 were significant increased in radio resistant cell lines than the patent cell in both gene and protein level. Otherwise, after using lentivirus technic to silence the PTOP gene, we found the radio resistant cell lines were significant decrease their radio resistances and telomerase activities. Conclusion The telomere binding protein PTOP and TRF1 were increased expressed in radio resistant breast cancer cell, PTOP was observed instinct positive correlated with telomere lengthen and telomerase activity enhancement. PMID:24460895

This paper investigates a tightly-coupled Global Position System (GPS)/Ultra-Wideband (UWB)/Inertial Navigation System (INS) cooperative positioning scheme using a Robust Kalman Filter (RKF) supported by V2I communication. The scheme proposes a method that uses range measurements of UWB units transmitted among the terminals as augmentation inputs of the observations. The UWB range inputs are used to reform the GPS observation equations that consist of pseudo-range and Doppler measurements and the updated observation equation is processed in a tightly-coupled GPS/UWB/INS integrated positioning equation using an adaptive Robust Kalman Filter. The result of the trial conducted on the roof of the Nottingham Geospatial Institute (NGI) at the University of Nottingham shows that the integrated solution provides better accuracy and improves the availability of the system in GPS denied environments. RKF can eliminate the effects of gross errors. Additionally, the internal and external reliabilities of the system are enhanced when the UWB observables received from the moving terminals are involved in the positioning algorithm. PMID:27355947

This paper investigates a tightly-coupled Global Position System (GPS)/Ultra-Wideband (UWB)/Inertial Navigation System (INS) cooperative positioning scheme using a Robust Kalman Filter (RKF) supported by V2I communication. The scheme proposes a method that uses range measurements of UWB units transmitted among the terminals as augmentation inputs of the observations. The UWB range inputs are used to reform the GPS observation equations that consist of pseudo-range and Doppler measurements and the updated observation equation is processed in a tightly-coupled GPS/UWB/INS integrated positioning equation using an adaptive Robust Kalman Filter. The result of the trial conducted on the roof of the Nottingham Geospatial Institute (NGI) at the University of Nottingham shows that the integrated solution provides better accuracy and improves the availability of the system in GPS denied environments. RKF can eliminate the effects of gross errors. Additionally, the internal and external reliabilities of the system are enhanced when the UWB observables received from the moving terminals are involved in the positioning algorithm. PMID:27355947

A 30-μW wireless fast-scan cyclic voltammetry monitoring integrated circuit for ultra-wideband (UWB) transmission of dopamine release events in freely-behaving small animals is presented. On-chip integration of analog background subtraction and UWB telemetry yields a 32-fold increase in resolution versus standard Nyquist-rate conversion alone, near a four-fold decrease in the volume of uplink data versus single-bit, third-order, delta-sigma modulation, and more than a 20-fold reduction in transmit power versus narrowband transmission for low data rates. The 1.5- mm(2) chip, which was fabricated in 65-nm CMOS technology, consists of a low-noise potentiostat frontend, a two-step analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and an impulse-radioUWB transmitter (TX). The duty-cycled frontend and ADC/UWB-TX blocks draw 4 μA and 15 μA from 3-V and 1.2-V supplies, respectively. The chip achieves an input-referred current noise of 92 pA(rms) and an input current range of ±430 nA at a conversion rate of 10 kHz. The packaged device operates from a 3-V coin-cell battery, measures 4.7 × 1.9 cm(2), weighs 4.3 g (including the battery and antenna), and can be carried by small animals. The system was validated by wirelessly recording flow-injection of dopamine with concentrations in the range of 250 nM to 1 μM with a carbon-fiber microelectrode (CFM) using 300-V/s FSCV. PMID:26057983

The thresholding of Surface ElectroMyoGraphic (sEMG) signals, i.e., Average Threshold Crossing (ATC) technique, reduces the amount of data to be processed enabling circuit complexity reduction and low power consumption. This paper investigates the lowest level of complexity reachable by an ATC system through measurements and in-vivo experiments with an embedded prototype for wireless force transmission, based on asynchronous Impulse-Radio Ultra Wide Band (IR-UWB). The prototype is composed by the acquisition unit, a wearable PCB 23 × 34 mm, which includes a full custom IC integrating a UWB transmitter (chip active silicon area 0.016 mm(2), 1 mW power consumption), and the receiver. The system is completely asynchronous, it acquires a differential sEMG signal, generates the ATC events and triggers a 3.3 GHz IR-UWB transmission. ATC robustness relaxes filters constraints: two passive first order filters have been implemented, bandwidth from 10 Hz up to 1 kHz. Energy needed for the single pulse generation is 30 pJ while the whole PCB consumes 5.65 mW. The pulses radiated by the acquisition unit TX are received by a short-range and low complexity threshold-based 130 nm CMOS IR-UWB receiver with an Ultra Low Power (ULP) baseband unit capable of robustly receiving generic quasi-digital pulse sequences. The acquisition unit have been tested with 10 series of in vivo isometric and isotonic contractions, while the transmission channel with over-the-air and cable measurements obtained with a couple of planar monopole antennas and an integrated 0.004 mm(2) transmitter, the same used for the acquisition unit, with realistic channel conditions. The entire system, acquisition unit and receiver, consumes 15.49 mW. PMID:26011867

In indoor environments, the Global Positioning System (GPS) and long-range tracking radar systems are not optimal, because of signal propagation limitations in the indoor environment. In recent years, the use of ultra-wide band (UWB) technology has become a possible solution for object detection, localization and tracking in indoor environments, because of its high range resolution, compact size and low cost. This paper presents improved target detection and tracking techniques for moving objects with impulse-radioUWB (IR-UWB) radar in a short-range indoor area. This is achieved through signal-processing steps, such as clutter reduction, target detection, target localization and tracking. In this paper, we introduce a new combination consisting of our proposed signal-processing procedures. In the clutter-reduction step, a filtering method that uses a Kalman filter (KF) is proposed. Then, in the target detection step, a modification of the conventional CLEAN algorithm which is used to estimate the impulse response from observation region is applied for the advanced elimination of false alarms. Then, the output is fed into the target localization and tracking step, in which the target location and trajectory are determined and tracked by using unscented KF in two-dimensional coordinates. In each step, the proposed methods are compared to conventional methods to demonstrate the differences in performance. The experiments are carried out using actual IR-UWB radar under different scenarios. The results verify that the proposed methods can improve the probability and efficiency of target detection and tracking. PMID:25808773

A 30-μW wireless fast-scan cyclic voltammetry monitoring integrated circuit for ultra-wideband (UWB) transmission of dopamine release events in freely-behaving small animals is presented. On-chip integration of analog background subtraction and UWB telemetry yields a 32-fold increase in resolution versus standard Nyquist-rate conversion alone, near a four-fold decrease in the volume of uplink data versus single-bit, third-order, delta-sigma modulation, and more than a 20-fold reduction in transmit power versus narrowband transmission for low data rates. The 1.5-mm2 chip, which was fabricated in 65-nm CMOS technology, consists of a low-noise potentiostat frontend, a two-step analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and an impulse-radioUWB transmitter (TX). The duty-cycled frontend and ADC/UWB-TX blocks draw 4 μA and 15 μA from 3-V and 1.2-V supplies, respectively. The chip achieves an input-referred current noise of 92 pArms and an input current range of ±430 nA at a conversion rate of 10 kHz. The packaged device operates from a 3-V coin-cell battery, measures 4.7 × 1.9 cm2, weighs 4.3 g (including the battery and antenna), and can be carried by small animals. The system was validated by wirelessly recording flow-injection of dopamine with concentrations in the range of 250 nM to 1 μM with a carbon-fiber microelectrode (CFM) using 300-V/s FSCV. PMID:26057983

In indoor environments, the Global Positioning System (GPS) and long-range tracking radar systems are not optimal, because of signal propagation limitations in the indoor environment. In recent years, the use of ultra-wide band (UWB) technology has become a possible solution for object detection, localization and tracking in indoor environments, because of its high range resolution, compact size and low cost. This paper presents improved target detection and tracking techniques for moving objects with impulse-radioUWB (IR-UWB) radar in a short-range indoor area. This is achieved through signal-processing steps, such as clutter reduction, target detection, target localization and tracking. In this paper, we introduce a new combination consisting of our proposed signal-processing procedures. In the clutter-reduction step, a filtering method that uses a Kalman filter (KF) is proposed. Then, in the target detection step, a modification of the conventional CLEAN algorithm which is used to estimate the impulse response from observation region is applied for the advanced elimination of false alarms. Then, the output is fed into the target localization and tracking step, in which the target location and trajectory are determined and tracked by using unscented KF in two-dimensional coordinates. In each step, the proposed methods are compared to conventional methods to demonstrate the differences in performance. The experiments are carried out using actual IR-UWB radar under different scenarios. The results verify that the proposed methods can improve the probability and efficiency of target detection and tracking. PMID:25808773

A new wearable system-on-a-chip UWB radar for health care systems is presented. The idea and its applications to the safety improvement of emergency operators are discussed. The system consists of a wearable wireless interface including a fully integrated UWB radar for the detection of the heart beat and breath rates, and a IEEE 802.15.4 ZigBee radio interface. The principle of operation of the UWB radar for the monitoring of the heart wall is explained hereinafter. The results obtained by the feasibility study regarding its implementation on a modern standard silicon technology (CMOS 90 nm) are reported, demonstrating (at simulation level) the effectiveness of such an approach and enabling the standard silicon technology for new generations of wireless sensors for heath care and safeguard wearable systems. PMID:18002540

Fiber-to-the-antenna (FTTA) system can be a cost-effective technique for distributing high frequency signals from the head-end office to a number of remote antenna units via passive optical splitter and propagating through low-loss and low-cost optical fibers. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an optical ultra-wideband (UWB) - impulse radio (IR) FTTA system for in-building and in-home applications. The optical UWB-IR wireless link is operated in the W-band (75 GHz - 110 GHz) using our developed near-ballistic unitraveling-carrier photodiode based photonic transmitter (PT) and a 10 GHz mode-locked laser. 2.5 Gb/s UWB-IR FTTA systems with 1,024 high split-ratio and transmission over 300 m optical fiber are demonstrated using direct PT modulation. PMID:20173867

This paper analyzes performances of the Pulse Interval Modulation (PIM) scheme for impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) communication systems. Due to the PIM anisochronous nature, a tap delay line (TDL) coded division multiple access (CDMA) scheme based on strict optical orthogonal codes (SOOC) is proposed. This scheme is suitable for multiuser high-speed data asynchronous transmission applications because the average symbol length is shorter than in Pulse Position Modulation (PPM) schemes and it needs only chip synchronization. The error probability over the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel is derived in the single- and multi-user environment and compared with other modulation schemes.

This presentation discusses an ultra-wideband (UWB) tracking system design effort using a tracking algorithm TDOA (Time Difference of Arrival). UWB technology is exploited to implement the tracking system due to its properties, such as high data rate, fine time resolution, and low power spectral density. A system design using commercially available UWB products is proposed. A two-stage weighted least square method is chosen to solve the TDOA non-linear equations. Matlab simulations in both two-dimensional space and three-dimensional space show that the tracking algorithm can achieve fine tracking resolution with low noise TDOA data. The error analysis reveals various ways to improve the tracking resolution. Lab experiments demonstrate the UWBTDOA tracking capability with fine resolution. This research effort is motivated by a prototype development project Mini-AERCam (Autonomous Extra-vehicular Robotic Camera), a free-flying video camera system under development at NASA Johnson Space Center for aid in surveillance around the International Space Station (ISS).

This paper discusses an ultra-wideband (UWB) tracking system design effort for Mini-AERCam (Autonomous Extra-vehicular Robotic Camera), a free-flying video camera system under development at NASA Johnson Space Center for aid in surveillance around the International Space Station (ISS). UWB technology is exploited to implement the tracking system due to its properties, such as high data rate, fine time resolution, and low power spectral density. A system design using commercially available UWB products is proposed. A tracking algorithm TDOA (Time Difference of Arrival) that operates cooperatively with the UWB system is developed in this research effort. Matlab simulations show that the tracking algorithm can achieve fine tracking resolution with low noise TDOA data. Lab experiments demonstrate the UWB tracking capability with fine resolution.

Novel and compact CPW-fed antennas are proposed comprised of a fractal patch and modified ground-plane. The ground-plane is truncated at the center and includes dielectric notches at its side to enhance the antenna's impedance bandwidth. The dimensions of the notches effectively control the upper and lower band edges of the antenna. The optimized antenna operates across 2.95–12.81 GHz for S11 ≤ −10 dB. Omnidirectional radiation pattern is achieved over the full UWB frequency range. The miniaturized antenna has a total size of 14 × 18 × 1 mm3. The characteristics of the proposed antenna are suitable for UWB wireless communication requiring low profile antennas. PMID:24672314

The principal topic of this dissertation is the development and application of signal and image processing to Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) and radio astronomy. The dissertation consists of nine papers published or submitted for publication. Each of them has a specific and unique topic related to signal processing or image processing in NDE or radio astronomy. Those topics are listed in the following. (1) Time series analysis and modeling of Very Large Array (VLA) phase data. (2) Image analysis, feature extraction and various applied enhancement methods for industrial NDE X-ray radiographic images. (3) Enhancing NDE radiographic X-ray images by adaptive regional Kalman filtering. (4) Robotic image segmentation, modeling, and restoration with a rule based expert system. (5) Industrial NDE radiographic X-ray image modeling and Kalman filtering considering signal-dependent colored noise. (6) Computational study of Kalman filtering VLA phase data and its computational performance on a supercomputer. (7) A practical and fast maximum entropy deconvolution method for de-blurring industrial NDE X-ray and infrared images. (8) Local feature enhancement of synthetic radio images by adaptive Kalman filtering. (9) A new technique for correcting phase data of a synthetic -aperture antenna array.

This paper discusses the results of a successful demonstration of radio frequency (RF) heating for enhanced chlorinated hydrocarbon remediation at the M-Area Seepage Basin of the Department of Energy`s Savannah River Site. RF heating was integrated with soil vapor extraction (SVE) to enhance the release of residual volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons which are concentrated in low permeable clay lenses in the unsaturated zone. Participants in this effort consisted of the Westinghouse Savannah River Technology Center; the Westinghouse Science and Technology Center (Pittsburgh, PA); and KAI Technologies, Inc. which provided the RF technology. Additionally, a better understanding of RF heating technology is gained through a description of the RF heating system.

A reconfigurable band-notched CPW-fed UWB antenna using electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure is proposed. Two structures are positioned adjacent to the transmission line of the UWB antenna. The band-notched characteristic can be disabled by switching the state of switch place at the strip line. The EBG structure produces reconfigurable band notched at 4.0 GHz, which covers C-band satellite communication (3.625-4.2 GHz) systems. The proposed antenna is suitable for UWB systems, which requires reconfigurable band reject function.

The successful realization of a Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) using Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology supports different medical and consumer electronics (CE) applications but stand in a need for an innovative solution to meet the different requirements of these applications. Previously, we proposed to use adaptive processing gain (PG) to fulfill the different QoS requirements of these WBAN applications. In this paper, interference occurred between two different BANs in a UWB-based system has been analyzed in terms of acceptable ratio of overlapping between these BANs' PG providing the required QoS for each BAN. The first BAN employed for a healthcare device (e.g. EEG, ECG, etc.) with a relatively longer spreading sequence is used and the second customized for entertainment application (e.g. wireless headset, wireless game pad, etc.) where a shorter spreading code is assigned. Considering bandwidth utilization and difference in the employed spreading sequence, the acceptable ratio of overlapping between these BANs should fall between 0.05 and 0.5 in order to optimize the used spreading sequence and in the meantime satisfying the required QoS for these applications. PMID:24109913

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a simple and flexible photonic scheme for generation and modulation of ultrawideband (UWB) using a phase modulator and a fiber delay interferometer (DI)-based multichannel frequency discrimination. By introducing a Gaussian signal to the phase modulator, the UWB polarity-switchable doublet pulses can be achieved by combining the pair of UWB monocycle pulses with inverted polarities at the DI outputs under proper time delay. Furthermore, the pulse shape modulation, pulse position modulation, and on-off keying can be performed by coding the electrical data patterns and adjusting the time delay between the two monocycle pulses. Only a laser source introduced in the architecture guarantees the excellent dispersion tolerance over 75 km optical fiber link for UWB pulse sequence, which has potential application in future high-speed UWB impulse radio over optical fiber access networks. PMID:23381294

Context. The accuracy of orbit determination has a strong impact on the scientific output of the Space VLBI mission RadioAstron. Aims: The aim of this work is to improve the RadioAstron orbit reconstruction by means of sophisticated dynamical modelling of its motion in combination with multi-station Doppler tracking of the RadioAstron spacecraft. Methods: The improved orbital solution is demonstrated using Doppler measurements of the RadioAstron downlink signal and by correlating VLBI observations made by RadioAstron with ground-based telescopes using the enhanced orbit determination data. Results: Orbit determination accuracy has been significantly improved from ~600 m in 3D position and ~2 cm/s in 3D velocity to several tens of metres and mm/s, respectively.

The wireless body area network (WBAN) has gaining tremendous attention among researchers and academicians for its envisioned applications in healthcare service. Ultra wideband (UWB) radio technology is considered as excellent air interface for communication among body area network devices. Characterisation and modelling of channel parameters are utmost prerequisite for the development of reliable communication system. The path loss of on-body UWB channel for each frequency band defined in IEEE 802.15.6 standard is experimentally determined. The parameters of path loss model are statistically determined by analysing measurement data. Both the line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight channel conditions are considered in the measurement. Variations of parameter values with the size of human body are analysed along with the variation of parameter values with the surrounding environments. It is observed that the parameters of the path loss model vary with the frequency band as well as with the body size and surrounding environment. The derived parameter values are specific to the particular frequency bands of IEEE 802.15.6 standard, which will be useful for the development of efficient UWB WBAN system. PMID:27382482

In these days, the development of positioning technology for realizing ubiquitous environments has become one of the most important issues. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a well-known positioning scheme, but it is not suitable for positioning in in-door/building environments because it is difficult to maintain line-of-sight condition between satellites and a GPS receiver. To such problem, various positioning methods such as RFID, WLAN, ZigBee, and Bluetooth have been developed for indoor positioning scheme. However, the majority of positioning schemes are focused on the two-dimension positioning even though three-dimension (3D) positioning information is more useful especially in indoor applications, such as smart space, U-health service, context aware service, etc. In this paper, a 3D positioning system based on mutually orthogonal nano-scale impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) signals and cross array antenna is proposed. The proposed scheme uses nano-scale IR-UWB signals providing fine time resolution and high-resolution multiple signal specification algorithm for the time-of-arrival and the angle-of-arrival estimation. The performance is evaluated over various IEEE 802.15.4a channel models, and simulation results show the effectiveness of proposed scheme. PMID:21970578

Impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) ranging and positioning require accurate estimation of time-of-arrival (TOA) and direction-of-arrival (DOA). With receiver of two antennas, both of the TOA and DOA parameters can be estimated via two-dimensional (2D) propagator method (PM), in which the 2D spectral peak searching, however, renders much higher computational complexity. This paper proposes a successive PM algorithm for joint TOA and DOA estimation in IR-UWB system to avoid 2D spectral peak searching. The proposed algorithm firstly gets the initial TOA estimates in the two antennas from the propagation matrix, then utilises successively one-dimensional (1D) local searches to achieve the estimation of TOAs in the two antennas, and finally obtains the DOA estimates via the difference in the TOAs between the two antennas. The proposed algorithm, which only requires 1D local searches, can avoid the high computational cost in 2D-PM algorithm. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm can obtain automatically paired parameters and has better joint TOA and DOA estimation performance than conventional PM algorithm, estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques algorithm and matrix pencil algorithm. Meanwhile, it has very close parameter estimation to that of 2D-PM algorithm. We have also derived the mean square error of TOA and DOA estimation of the proposed algorithm and the Cramer-Rao bound of TOA and DOA estimation in this paper. The simulation results verify the usefulness of the proposed algorithm.

A very recent FCC Final Rule now permits marketing and operation of new products that incorporate Ultrawideband (UWB) technology into handheld devices. Wireless product developers are working to rapidly bring this versatile, powerful and expectedly inexpensive technology into numerous consumer wireless devices. Past studies addressing the potential for passenger-carried portable electronic devices (PEDs) to interfere with aircraft electronic systems suggest that UWB transmitters may pose a significant threat to aircraft communication and navigation radio receivers. NASA, United Airlines and Eagles Wings Incorporated have performed preliminary testing that clearly shows the potential for handheld UWB transmitters to cause cockpit failure indications for the air traffic control radio beacon system (ATCRBS), blanking of aircraft on the traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS) displays, and cause erratic motion and failure of instrument landing system (ILS) localizer and glideslope pointers on the pilot horizontal situation and attitude director displays. This paper provides details of the preliminary testing and recommends further assessment of aircraft systems for susceptibility to UWB electromagnetic interference.

Purpose Ketogenic diets (KDs) are high in fat and low in carbohydrates as well as protein which forces cells to rely on lipid oxidation and mitochondrial respiration rather than glycolysis for energy metabolism. Cancer cells (relative to normal cells) are believed to exist in a state of chronic oxidative stress mediated by mitochondrial metabolism. The current study tests the hypothesis that KDs enhanceradio-chemo-therapy responses in lung cancer xenografts by enhancing oxidative stress. Experimental Design Mice bearing NCI-H292 and A549 lung cancer xenografts were fed a KD (KetoCal® 4:1 fats: proteins+carbohydrates) and treated with either conventionally fractionated (1.8-2 Gy) or hypofractionated (6 Gy) radiation as well as conventionally fractionated radiation combined with carboplatin. Mice weights and tumor size were monitored. Tumors were assessed for immuno-reactive 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal-(4HNE) modified proteins as a marker of oxidative stress as well as PCNA and γH2AX as indices of proliferation and DNA damage, respectively. Results The KD combined with radiation resulted in slower tumor growth in both NCI-H292 and A549 xenografts (p<0.05), relative to radiation alone. The KD also slowed tumor growth when combined with carboplatin and radiation, relative to control. Tumors from animals fed a KD in combination with radiation demonstrated increases in oxidative damage mediated by lipid peroxidation as determined by 4HNE-modified proteins as well as decreased proliferation as assessed by decreased immunoreactive PCNA. Conclusions These results show that a KD enhancesradio-chemo-therapy responses in lung cancer xenografts by a mechanism that may involve increased oxidative stress. PMID:23743570

... under the provisions of this section is limited to UWB transmitters employed solely for indoor operation.... (b) The UWB bandwidth of a UWB system operating under the provisions of this section must be... operating under the provisions of this section shall not exceed the emission levels......

... under the provisions of this section is limited to UWB transmitters employed solely for indoor operation.... (b) The UWB bandwidth of a UWB system operating under the provisions of this section must be... operating under the provisions of this section shall not exceed the emission levels......

... under the provisions of this section is limited to UWB transmitters employed solely for indoor operation.... (b) The UWB bandwidth of a UWB system operating under the provisions of this section must be... operating under the provisions of this section shall not exceed the emission levels......

... under the provisions of this section is limited to UWB transmitters employed solely for indoor operation.... (b) The UWB bandwidth of a UWB system operating under the provisions of this section must be... operating under the provisions of this section shall not exceed the emission levels......

Reliable wireless communication links for local-area (short-range) and regional (long-range) reach capabilities are crucial for emergency response to disasters. Lack of a dependable communication system can result in disruptions in the situational awareness between the local responders in the field and the emergency command and control centers. To date, all wireless communications systems such as cell phones and walkie-talkies use narrowband radio frequency (RF) signaling for data communication. However, the hostile radio propagation environment caused by collapsed structures and rubble in various disaster sites results in significant degradation and attenuation of narrowband RF signals, which ends up in frequent communication breakdowns. To address the challenges of reliable radio communication in disaster fields, we propose an approach to use ultra-wideband (UWB) or wideband RF waveforms for implementation on Software Defined Radio (SDR) platforms. Ultra-wideband communications has been proven by many research groups to be effective in addressing many of the limitations faced by conventional narrowband radio technologies. In addition, LLNL's radio and wireless team have shown significant success in field deployment of various UWB communications system for harsh environments based on LLNL's patented UWB modulation and equalization techniques. Furthermore, using software defined radio platform for UWB communications offers a great deal of flexibility in operational parameters and helps the radio system to dynamically adapt itself to its environment for optimal performance.

Public Technology Inc. asked for NASA assistance to devise the original firefighter's radio. Good short-range radio communications are essential during a fire to coordinate hose lines, rescue victims, and otherwise increase efficiency. Useful firefighting tool is lower cost, more rugged short range two-way radio. Inductorless electronic circuit replaced inductances and coils in radio circuits with combination of transistors and other low-cost components. Substitution promises reduced circuit size and cost. Enhanced electrical performance made radio more durable and improved maintainability by incorporating modular construction.

The benefits of radio frequency (RF) dryers in the textile industry are well documented and include improved product quality, increased drying versatility, uniform drying, and enhanced flexibility for just-in-time (JIT) processing. In spite of these benefits, however, less than 25 of the 400 RF package dryers in use worldwide are located in North America because of the costs associated with additional materials handling operations. This report defines six yarn package handling work functions as candidates for automation, determines the justifiable corporate investment to automate these six functions, and discusses various investment levels and rates of return on such automation. The report also identifies 11 manufacturers that build customized automation equipment and details their systems.

The benefits of radio frequency (RF) dryers in the textile industry are well documented and include improved product quality, increased drying versatility, uniform drying, and enhanced flexibility for just-in-time (JIT) processing. In spite of these benefits, however, less than 25 of the 400 RF package dryers in use worldwide are located in North America because of the costs associated with additional materials handling operations. This report defines six yarn package handling work functions as candidates for automation, determines the justifiable corporate investment to automate these six functions, and discusses various investment levels and rates of return on such automation. The report also identifies 11 manufacturers that build customized automation equipment and details their systems.

RF toxicity and Information Warfare (IW) are becoming omnipresent posing threats to the protection of nuclear assets, and within theatres of hostility or combat where tactical operation of wireless communication without detection and interception is important and sometimes critical for survival. As a result, a requirement for deployment of many security systems is a highly secure wireless technology manifesting stealth or covert operation suitable for either permanent or tactical deployment where operation without detection or interruption is important The possible use of ultra wideband (UWB) spectrum technology as an alternative physical medium for wireless network communication offers many advantages over conventional narrowband and spread spectrum wireless communication. UWB also known as fast-frequency chirp is nonsinusoidal and sends information directly by transmitting sub-nanosecond pulses without the use of mixing baseband information upon a sinusoidal carrier. Thus UWB sends information using radar-like impulses by spreading its energy thinly over a vast spectrum and can operate at extremely low-power transmission within the noise floor where other forms of RF find it difficult or impossible to operate. As a result UWB offers low probability of detection (LPD), low probability of interception (LPI) as well as anti-jamming (AJ) properties in signal space. This paper analyzes and compares the vulnerability of UWB to narrowband and spread spectrum wireless network communication.

In this article, started from analyzing the basic principle of band-notched characteristics, a feasibly method used for band-notched antenna is demonstrated and the equivalent circuit for this method is designed. A novel UWB antenna is designed. Based on this method, two stubs which can be equivalent to shorted stubs in parallel configuration are added to realize dual band-notched characteristics. Simulated and measured results all show that the UWB antenna yields an impendence bandwidth of 2.0-10.6 GHz by defining VSWR ≦ 2, and two obvious band-notched functions (3.27-3.83 GHz, 4.60-5.90 GHz) occur at the working bandwidth of WIMAX (3.3-3.7 GHz) and HiperLAN/2 (5.15-5.35 GHz, 5.47-5.725 GHz), so the electromagnetic interference between UWB application and WIMAX, HiperLAN/2 can be suppressed.

Long-range, ultra-wideband (UWB), passive radio frequency (RF) tags are key components in Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) system that will revolutionize inventory control and tracking applications. Unlike conventional, battery-operated (active) RFID tags, LLNL's small UWB tags, called 'UTag', operate at long range (up to 20 meters) in harsh, cluttered environments. Because they are battery-less (that is, passive), they have practically infinite lifetimes without human intervention, and they are lower in cost to manufacture and maintain than active RFID tags. These robust, energy-efficient passive tags are remotely powered by UWBradio signals, which are much more difficult to detect, intercept, and jam than conventional narrowband frequencies. The features of long range, battery-less, and low cost give UTag significant advantage over other existing RFID tags.

Spectrum sensing, a key technical challenge in cognitive radios (CR) technology, is a technique that enables the spectrum of licensed systems to be accessed without causing undue interference. It is well known that cyclostationarity detectors have great advantages over energy detectors in terms of the robustness to noise uncertainty that significantly degrades the performance as well as the capability to distinguish the signal of interest from the other interferences and noise. The generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) is a recognized sensing technique that utilizes the inherent cyclostationarity of the signal and has been intensively studied. However, no comprehensive evaluation on its performance enhancement has been published to date. Moreover high computational complexity is still a significant problem for its realization. This paper proposes a maximum ratio combining multi-cyclic detector which uses multiple cyclic frequencies for performance enhancement with reduced computational complexity. An orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal based on the ISDB-T (integrated services digital broadcasting terrestrial), a Japanese digital television broadcasting standard, was used in the evaluation assuming this as a primary system in WRAN (wireless regional area network) applications like IEEE 802.22.

Ultra-wideband impulse radio (UWB-IR) sensors should comply entirely with the regulatory spectral limits for elegant coexistence. Under this premise, it is desirable for UWB pulses to improve frequency utilization to guarantee the transmission reliability. Meanwhile, orthogonal waveform division multiple-access (WDMA) is significant to mitigate mutual interferences in UWB sensor networks. Motivated by the considerations, we suggest in this paper a low complexity pulse forming technique, and its efficient implementation on DSP is investigated. The UWB pulse is derived preliminarily with the objective of minimizing the mean square error (MSE) between designed power spectrum density (PSD) and the emission mask. Subsequently, this pulse is iteratively modified until its PSD completely conforms to spectral constraints. The orthogonal restriction is then analyzed and different algorithms have been presented. Simulation demonstrates that our technique can produce UWB waveforms with frequency utilization far surpassing the other existing signals under arbitrary spectral mask conditions. Compared to other orthogonality design schemes, the designed pulses can maintain mutual orthogonality without any penalty on frequency utilization, and hence, are much superior in a WDMA network, especially with synchronization deviations. PMID:22163511

Ultra-wideband impulse radio (UWB-IR) sensors should comply entirely with the regulatory spectral limits for elegant coexistence. Under this premise, it is desirable for UWB pulses to improve frequency utilization to guarantee the transmission reliability. Meanwhile, orthogonal waveform division multiple-access (WDMA) is significant to mitigate mutual interferences in UWB sensor networks. Motivated by the considerations, we suggest in this paper a low complexity pulse forming technique, and its efficient implementation on DSP is investigated. The UWB pulse is derived preliminarily with the objective of minimizing the mean square error (MSE) between designed power spectrum density (PSD) and the emission mask. Subsequently, this pulse is iteratively modified until its PSD completely conforms to spectral constraints. The orthogonal restriction is then analyzed and different algorithms have been presented. Simulation demonstrates that our technique can produce UWB waveforms with frequency utilization far surpassing the other existing signals under arbitrary spectral mask conditions. Compared to other orthogonality design schemes, the designed pulses can maintain mutual orthogonality without any penalty on frequency utilization, and hence, are much superior in a WDMA network, especially with synchronization deviations. PMID:22163511

As spread spectrum technology has revolutionized the communications industry, Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology is dramatically improving radar performances. These advanced signal processing techniques have been adapted to coaxial cables and waveguides to provide new features and enhanced performance on arc detection. UWB signals constituted by a sequence of chips (properly chosen to reduce side lobes and to improve detection accuracy) are transmitted along the transmission lines at a specified Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) and their echoes are received by means of directional couplers. The core of the receiver is an ultra high-speed correlator implemented in a Digital Signal Processor (DSP). When a target (arc) is detected, its position and its 'radar cross section' are calculated to be able to provide the arc position along the transmission line and to be able to classify the type of detected arc. The 'background scattering' is routinely extracted from the received signal at any pulse. This permits to be resilient to the background structure of transmission lines (bends, junctions, windows, etc.). Thanks to the localization feature, segmentation is also possible for creating sensed and non-sensed zones (for example, to be insensitive to antenna load variations)

The emergence of the Internet of Things and the proliferation of mobile wireless devices has brought the area of mobile cognitive radio sensor networks (MCRSN) to the research spot light. Notwithstanding the potentials of CRSNs in terms of opportunistic channel usage for bursty traffic, the effect of the mobility of resource-constrained nodes to route stability, mobility-induced spatio-temporal spectral opportunities and primary user (PU) protection still remain open issues that need to be jointly addressed. To this effect, this paper proposes a mobile reliable geographical forwarding routing (MROR) protocol. MROR provides a robust mobile framework for geographical forwarding that is based on a mobility-induced channel availability model. It presents a comprehensive routing strategy that considers PU activity (to take care of routes that have to be built through PU coverage), PU signal protection (by the introduction of a mobility-induced guard (mguard) distance) and the random mobility-induced spatio-temporal spectrum opportunities (for enhancement of throughput). It also addresses the issue of frequent route maintenance that arises when speeds of the mobile nodes are considered as a routing metric. As a result, simulation has shown the ability of MROR to reduce the route failure rate by about 65% as against other schemes. In addition, further results show that MROR can improve both the throughput and goodput at the sink in an energy-efficient manner that is required in CRSNs as against compared works. PMID:26840312

Radio frequency (RF) reactive magnetron sputtering was utilized to deposit Li-doped and undoped zinc oxide (ZnO) films on silicon wafers. Various Ar/O2 gas ratios by volume and sputtering powers were selected for each deposition process. The results demonstrate that the enhanced ZnO films are obtained via Li doping. The average deposition rate for doped ZnO films is twice more than that of the undoped films. Both atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy studies indicate that Li doping significantly contributes to the higher degree of crystallinity of wurtzite-ZnO. X-ray diffraction analysis demonstrates that Li doping promotes the (002) preferential orientation in Li-doped ZnO films. However, an increase in the ZnO lattice constant, broadening of the (002) peak and a decrease in the peak integral area are observed in some Li-doped samples, especially as the form of Li2O. This implies that doping with Li expands the crystal structure and thus induces the additional strain in the crystal lattice. The oriented-growth Li-doped ZnO will make significant applications in future surface acoustic wave devices.

The emergence of the Internet of Things and the proliferation of mobile wireless devices has brought the area of mobile cognitive radio sensor networks (MCRSN) to the research spot light. Notwithstanding the potentials of CRSNs in terms of opportunistic channel usage for bursty traffic, the effect of the mobility of resource-constrained nodes to route stability, mobility-induced spatio-temporal spectral opportunities and primary user (PU) protection still remain open issues that need to be jointly addressed. To this effect, this paper proposes a mobile reliable geographical forwarding routing (MROR) protocol. MROR provides a robust mobile framework for geographical forwarding that is based on a mobility-induced channel availability model. It presents a comprehensive routing strategy that considers PU activity (to take care of routes that have to be built through PU coverage), PU signal protection (by the introduction of a mobility-induced guard (mguard) distance) and the random mobility-induced spatio-temporal spectrum opportunities (for enhancement of throughput). It also addresses the issue of frequent route maintenance that arises when speeds of the mobile nodes are considered as a routing metric. As a result, simulation has shown the ability of MROR to reduce the route failure rate by about 65% as against other schemes. In addition, further results show that MROR can improve both the throughput and goodput at the sink in an energy-efficient manner that is required in CRSNs as against compared works. PMID:26840312

A new modulation scheme in UWB communications is introduced. This modulation technique utilizes multiple orthogonal transmitted-reference pulses for UWB channelization. The proposed UWB receiver samples the second order statistical function at both zero and non-zero lags and matches the samples to stored second order statistical functions, thus sampling and matching the shape of second order statistical functions rather than just the shape of the received pulses.

This paper outlines an improved design of inexpensive, wireless and battery free biosensors for in situ monitoring of food quality. This type of device has an additional advantage of being operated remotely. To make the device, a portion of an antenna of a passive 13.56 MHz radio frequency identification (RFID) tag was altered with a sensing element composed of conductive nanofillers/particles, a binding agent, and a polymer matrix. These novel RFID tags were exposed to biogenic amine putrescine, commonly used as a marker for food spoilage, and their response was monitored over time using a general-purpose network analyzer. The effect of conductive filler properties, including conductivity and morphology, and filler functionalization was investigated by preparing sensing composites containing carbon particles (CPs), multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and binding agent grafted-multiwall carbon nanotubes (g-MWCNTs), respectively. During exposure to putrescine, the amount of reflected waves, frequency at resonance, and quality factor of the novel RFID tags decreased in response. The use of MWCNTs reduced tag cutoff time (i.e., faster response time) as compared with the use of CPs, which highlighted the effectiveness of the conductive nanofiller morphology, while the addition of g-MWCNTs further accelerated the sensor response time as a result of localized binding on the conductive nanofiller surface. Microstructural investigation of the film morphology indicated a better dispersion of g-MWCNTs in the sensing composite as compared to MWCNTs and CPs, as well as a smoother texture of the surface of the resulting coating. These results demonstrated that grafting of the binding agent onto the conductive particles in the sensing composite is an effective way to further enhance the detection sensitivity of the RFID tag based sensor. PMID:25993041

Single pixel feeds on large aperture radio telescopes have the ability to detect weak (˜10 mJy) impulsive bursts of radio emission and sub-mJy radio pulsars. Unfortunately, in large-scale blind surveys, radio frequency interference (RFI) mimics both radio bursts and radio pulsars, greatly reducing the sensitivity to new discoveries as real signals of astronomical origin get lost among the millions of false candidates. In this paper a technique that takes advantage of multipixel feeds to use eigenvector decomposition of common signals is used to greatly facilitate radio burst and pulsar discovery. Since the majority of RFI occurs with zero dispersion, the method was tested on the total power present in the 13 beams of the Parkes multibeam receiver using data from archival intermediate-latitude surveys. The implementation of this method greatly reduced the number of false candidates and led to the discovery of one new rotating radio transient or RRAT, six new pulsars and five new pulses that shared the swept-frequency characteristics similar in nature to the `Lorimer burst'. These five new signals occurred within minutes of 11 previous detections of a similar type. When viewed together, they display temporal characteristics related to integer seconds, with non-random distributions and characteristic 'gaps' between them, suggesting they are not from a naturally occurring source. Despite the success in removing RFI, false candidates present in the data that are only visible after integrating in time or at non-zero dispersion remained. It is demonstrated that with some computational penalty, the method can be applied iteratively at all trial dispersions and time resolutions to remove the vast majority of spurious candidates.

A novel UWB communications method and system that provides self-organization for wireless sensor networks is introduced. The self-organization is in terms of scalability, power conservation, channel estimation, and node synchronization in wireless sensor networks. The UWB receiver in the present invention adds two new tasks to conventional TR receivers. The two additional units are SNR enhancing unit and timing acquisition and tracking unit.

Recently, Impulse Radio Ultra Wideband (IR-UWB) signaling has become popular for providing precise location accuracy for mobile and wireless sensor node localization in the indoor environment due to its large bandwidth and high time resolution while providing ultra-high transmission capacity. However, the Non-line-of-sight (NLOS) error mitigation has considerable importance in localization of wireless nodes. In order to mitigate NLOS errors in indoor localization this paper proposes and investigates a novel approach which creates a hybrid combination of channel impulse response (CIR)-based fingerprinting (FP) positioning and an iterative Time of Arrival (TOA) real time positioning method using Ultra Wideband (UWB) signaling. Besides, to reduce the calculation complexities in FP method, this paper also introduces a unique idea for the arrangement of reference nodes (or tags) to create a fingerprinting database. The simulation results confirm that the proposed hybrid method yields better positioning accuracies and is much more robust in NLOS error mitigation than TOA only and FP only and a conventional iterative positioning method. PMID:23112651

Recently, Impulse Radio Ultra Wideband (IR-UWB) signaling has become popular for providing precise location accuracy for mobile and wireless sensor node localization in the indoor environment due to its large bandwidth and high time resolution while providing ultra-high transmission capacity. However, the Non-line-of-sight (NLOS) error mitigation has considerable importance in localization of wireless nodes. In order to mitigate NLOS errors in indoor localization this paper proposes and investigates a novel approach which creates a hybrid combination of channel impulse response (CIR)-based fingerprinting (FP) positioning and an iterative Time of Arrival (TOA) real time positioning method using Ultra Wideband (UWB) signaling. Besides, to reduce the calculation complexities in FP method, this paper also introduces a unique idea for the arrangement of reference nodes (or tags) to create a fingerprinting database. The simulation results confirm that the proposed hybrid method yields better positioning accuracies and is much more robust in NLOS error mitigation than TOA only and FP only and a conventional iterative positioning method. PMID:23112651

We present a comparison between coherent and noncoherent UWB receivers, under a realistic propagation environment, that takes into account also the effect of path-dependent pulse distortion. As far as coherent receivers are concerned, both maximal ratio combining (MRC) and equal gain combining (EGC) techniques are analyzed, considering a limited number of estimated paths. Furthermore, two classical noncoherent schemes, a differential detector, and a transmitted-reference receiver, together with two iterative solutions, recently proposed in the literature, are considered. Finally, we extend the multisymbol approach to the UWB case and we propose a decision-feedback receiver that reduces the complexity of the previous strategy, thus still maintaining good performance. While traditional noncoherent receivers exhibit performance loss, if compared to coherent detectors, the iterative and the decision-feedback ones are able to guarantee error probability close to the one obtained employing an ideal RAKE, without requiring channel estimation, in the presence of static indoor channel and limited multiuser interference.

The present invention presents a simple and novel channel estimation scheme for UWB communication systems. As disclosed herein, the present invention maximizes the extraction of information by incorporating a new generation of transmitted-reference (Tr) transceivers that utilize a single reference pulse(s) or a preamble of reference pulses to provide improved channel estimation while offering higher Bit Error Rate (BER) performance and data rates without diluting the transmitter power.

This paper proposes a novel green cooperative diversity technique based on suboptimal template-based ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) using amplify-and-forward (AF) relays. In addition, it analyzes the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of the proposed nodes. The analysis is based on the moment-generating function (MGF) of the total signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the destination. It also provides an approximate value for the total SNR. The analysis studies the performance of equally correlated binary pulse position modulation (EC-BPPM) assuming the sinusoidal and square suboptimal template pulses. Numerical results are provided for the performance evaluation of optimal and suboptimal template-based nodes with and without relay cooperation. Results show that one relay node provides ~23 dB performance enhancement at 1e − 3 BER, which mitigates the effect of the nondesirable non-line-of-sight (NLOS) links in WBSNs. PMID:24307880

This paper proposes a novel green cooperative diversity technique based on suboptimal template-based ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) using amplify-and-forward (AF) relays. In addition, it analyzes the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of the proposed nodes. The analysis is based on the moment-generating function (MGF) of the total signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the destination. It also provides an approximate value for the total SNR. The analysis studies the performance of equally correlated binary pulse position modulation (EC-BPPM) assuming the sinusoidal and square suboptimal template pulses. Numerical results are provided for the performance evaluation of optimal and suboptimal template-based nodes with and without relay cooperation. Results show that one relay node provides ~23 dB performance enhancement at 1e - 3 BER, which mitigates the effect of the nondesirable non-line-of-sight (NLOS) links in WBSNs. PMID:24307880

Although ultracool dwarfs (UCDs) are now known to generate and dissipate strong magnetic fields, a clear understanding of the underlying dynamo is still lacking. We have performed X-ray and radio observations of seven UCDs in a narrow range of spectral type (M6.5-M9.5) but spanning a wide range of projected rotational velocities (vsin i ≈ 3-40 km s{sup –1}). We have also analyzed unpublished archival Chandra observations of four additional objects. All of the newly observed targets are detected in the X-ray, while only one is detected in the radio, with the remainder having sensitive upper limits. We present a database of UCDs with both radio and X-ray measurements and consider the data in light of the so-called Güdel-Benz relation (GBR) between magnetic activity in these bands. Some UCDs have very bright radio emission and faint X-ray emission compared to what would be expected for rapid rotators, while others show the opposite behavior. We show that UCDs would still be radio-overluminous relative to the GBR even if their X-ray emission were at standard rapid-rotator 'saturation' levels. Recent results from Zeeman-Doppler imaging and geodynamo simulations suggest that rapidly rotating UCDs may harbor a bistable dynamo that supports either a stronger, axisymmetric magnetic field or a weaker, non-axisymmetric field. We suggest that the data can be explained in a scenario in which strong-field objects obey the GBR while weak-field objects are radio-overluminous and X-ray-underluminous, possibly because of a population of gyrosynchrotron-emitting coronal electrons that is continuously replenished by low-energy reconnection events.

Although ultracool dwarfs (UCDs) are now known to generate and dissipate strong magnetic fields, a clear understanding of the underlying dynamo is still lacking. We have performed X-ray and radio observations of seven UCDs in a narrow range of spectral type (M6.5-M9.5) but spanning a wide range of projected rotational velocities (vsin i ≈ 3-40 km s-1). We have also analyzed unpublished archival Chandra observations of four additional objects. All of the newly observed targets are detected in the X-ray, while only one is detected in the radio, with the remainder having sensitive upper limits. We present a database of UCDs with both radio and X-ray measurements and consider the data in light of the so-called Güdel-Benz relation (GBR) between magnetic activity in these bands. Some UCDs have very bright radio emission and faint X-ray emission compared to what would be expected for rapid rotators, while others show the opposite behavior. We show that UCDs would still be radio-overluminous relative to the GBR even if their X-ray emission were at standard rapid-rotator "saturation" levels. Recent results from Zeeman-Doppler imaging and geodynamo simulations suggest that rapidly rotating UCDs may harbor a bistable dynamo that supports either a stronger, axisymmetric magnetic field or a weaker, non-axisymmetric field. We suggest that the data can be explained in a scenario in which strong-field objects obey the GBR while weak-field objects are radio-overluminous and X-ray-underluminous, possibly because of a population of gyrosynchrotron-emitting coronal electrons that is continuously replenished by low-energy reconnection events.

Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology has attracted great interest because it can provide a promising solution of future radar and short-range broadband wireless communications. The generation of millimeter-wave UWB signals using photonic approaches can reduce the high cost of the millimeter-wave electrical circuits. Moreover, it is well compatible with fiber transmission, which can effectively extend its signal coverage. In this paper, a novel approach to the photonic generation of millimeter-wave UWB signals with dual-band operation consideration is proposed. The proposed scheme can simultaneously generate millimeter-wave UWB signals in both 24 GHz and 60 GHz millimeter band, and can efficiently exploit the spectrum limit allowed by the FCC mask by using the linear combination pulse design concept. A model describing the proposed system is developed and the generation of 24/60 GHz millimeter-wave UWB signals is demonstrated via computer simulations.

In this paper, a novel scheme to generate ultra-wideband (UWB) doublet signals based on the cross-gain modulation (XGM) effect in the DFB lasers is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, the modulation and transmission of the generated UWB doublet signals are also researched. In the proposed system, a gain-switched laser (GSL) is used as a master laser (ML) and the optical pulses from the ML are optically injected into two paralleled DFB lasers, which are used as slave lasers (SL). Then the outputs from the SLs are detected by a balanced photodiode (BPD) to generate the Bi-phased UWB signals. By properly setting the system parameters, UWB signals with various modulation formats such as on-off keying (OOK), pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) as well as the phase-shift keying (PSK) can be generated. In addition, fiber transmission of the modulated UWB signals is also experimentally investigated.

Over the last years, there has been a great deal of interest in Ultra Wideband (UWB) wireless communication and Wireless Sensor Networks(WSN), especially following the proposing of the internet of things by the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in 1999, hich is also result in an increasing research on UWB and WSN applications. This article mainly introduced the accurate UWB Localization System based on WSN in coal mine. Firstly, we briefly introduced UWB and WSN Localization technology. Secondly, the advantages and disadvantages of the previous personnel localization technology in coal mine was analyzed and contrasted, and then the suitable personnel localization system in coal mine based on UWB signal and TOA estimate positioning scheme are presented. At last the rationality and feasibility of this scheme was proved through the simulation results.

This paper reports an energy-efficient, impulse radio ultra wideband (IR-UWB) wireless link operating in 3-5 GHz for data telemetry over centimeter-to-meter range distances at rates extended to tens of Mbps. The link comprises an all-digital, integrated transmitter (TX) fabricated in 90 nm 1P/9M CMOS that incorporates a waveform-synthesis pulse generator and a timing generator for on-off-keying (OOK) pulse modulation and phase scrambling. The link also incorporates an energy-detection receiver (RX) realized with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components that performs radio-frequency (RF) filtering, amplification, logarithmic power detection for data demodulation and automatic level control for robust operation in the presence of distance variations. Employing a miniaturized, UWB, chip antenna for the TX and RX, wireless transmission of pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) data at rates up to 50 Mbps over 10 cm-1 m is shown. Further, employing a high-gain horn antenna for the RX, wireless transmission of PRBS data at rates up to 67 Mbps over 50 cm-4 m is shown with a TX energy consumption of 30 pJ/b (i.e., power consumption of 2 mW) from 1.2 V. The measured bit error rate (BER) in both cases is < 10(-7) . Results from wireless recording of the background current of a carbon-fiber microelectrode (CFM) in one fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) scan using the IR-UWB link are also included, exhibiting excellent match with those obtained from a conventional frequency-shift-keyed (FSK) link at ~433 MHz. PMID:25134088

Ultra Wideband (UWB) has many favorable factors for use in a wireless body area network application. The major drawback is the high power consumption of an UWB receiver. One solution to address this problem is to use a transmit-only UWB sensor node. In this paper, we propose a multi-access scheme that is suitable for asynchronous transmit-only UWB wireless body area networks (UWB-WBAN). Each sensor attached on the patient under monitoring is assigned a unique number of UWB pulses per data bit. The number of UWB pulses assigned to the sensors is optimized to improve the bit error rate and system reliability. Simulation shows that through careful selection of the number of pulses for the sensors, it is possible to maintain almost similar bit error probability, regardless of the distance from the receiver. PMID:19964453

Emitters of current and future wireless ultra wideband technology (UWB) inside the cabin should not interfere with any aircraft system. Especially the radio altimeter (RA) system using antennas mounted outside the fuselage is potentially sensitive to UWB devices in the frequency range between 4.1 and 4.8 GHz. The measurement of the interference path loss (IPL) to the RA is therefore of interest and is presented for different aircraft. The need of a high dynamic setup with low parasitic coupling in the IPL measurement is stressed. In addition, electromagnetic interference (EMI) tests with different transmitted signals are made, showing that the susceptibility of the RA system actually increases with UWB modulation.

A hex-sided rounded dipole antenna (HSRDA) for UWB applications is presented. It is designed by the addition of semi-elliptical patch sections at the edges of a square bow-tie antenna. The antenna structure is fed by a modified microstrip feedline for better impedance matching. An impedance bandwidth of 2.9-11.4 GHz is achieved. The antenna structure has quasi omnidirectional radiation patterns and reasonable gain over the same frequency range. A good agreement between the experimental and simulation results is observed. The proposed antenna structure has miniaturized size for the same bandwidth as compared to already reported antenna structures.

This paper presents a negative index metamaterial incorporated UWB antenna with an integration of complementary SRR (split-ring resonator) and CLS (capacitive loaded strip) unit cells for microwave imaging sensor applications. This metamaterial UWB antenna sensor consists of four unit cells along one axis, where each unit cell incorporates a complementary SRR and CLS pair. This integration enables a design layout that allows both a negative value of permittivity and a negative value of permeability simultaneous, resulting in a durable negative index to enhance the antenna sensor performance for microwave imaging sensor applications. The proposed MTM antenna sensor was designed and fabricated on an FR4 substrate having a thickness of 1.6 mm and a dielectric constant of 4.6. The electrical dimensions of this antenna sensor are 0.20 λ × 0.29 λ at a lower frequency of 3.1 GHz. This antenna sensor achieves a 131.5% bandwidth (VSWR < 2) covering the frequency bands from 3.1 GHz to more than 15 GHz with a maximum gain of 6.57 dBi. High fidelity factor and gain, smooth surface-current distribution and nearly omni-directional radiation patterns with low cross-polarization confirm that the proposed negative index UWB antenna is a promising entrant in the field of microwave imaging sensors. PMID:26007721

This paper presents a negative index metamaterial incorporated UWB antenna with an integration of complementary SRR (split-ring resonator) and CLS (capacitive loaded strip) unit cells for microwave imaging sensor applications. This metamaterial UWB antenna sensor consists of four unit cells along one axis, where each unit cell incorporates a complementary SRR and CLS pair. This integration enables a design layout that allows both a negative value of permittivity and a negative value of permeability simultaneous, resulting in a durable negative index to enhance the antenna sensor performance for microwave imaging sensor applications. The proposed MTM antenna sensor was designed and fabricated on an FR4 substrate having a thickness of 1.6 mm and a dielectric constant of 4.6. The electrical dimensions of this antenna sensor are 0.20 λ × 0.29 λ at a lower frequency of 3.1 GHz. This antenna sensor achieves a 131.5% bandwidth (VSWR < 2) covering the frequency bands from 3.1 GHz to more than 15 GHz with a maximum gain of 6.57 dBi. High fidelity factor and gain, smooth surface-current distribution and nearly omni-directional radiation patterns with low cross-polarization confirm that the proposed negative index UWB antenna is a promising entrant in the field of microwave imaging sensors. PMID:26007721

Ad hoc communication among small robotic platforms in complex indoor environment is further challenged by three limiting factors: 1) limited power, 2) small size antennas, and 3) near-ground operation. In complex environments such as indoor scenarios often times the line-of-sight communication cannot be established and the wireless connectivity must rely on multi-path propagation. As a result, the propagation path-loss is much higher than free-space, and more power will be needed to obtain the need coverage. Near ground operation also leads to increased path-loss. To maintain the network connectivity without increasing the required power a novel high gain miniaturized radio repeater is presented. Unlike existing repeater systems, this system utilizes two closely spaced low profile miniaturized planar antennas capable of producing omnidirectional and vertical radiation patterns as well as a channel isolator layer that serves to decouple the adjacent antennas. The meta-material based channel isolator serves as an electromagnetic shield, thus enabling it to be built in a sub-wavelength size of 0.07λ0 2 × λ0/70, the smallest repeater ever built. Also wave propagation simulations have been conducted to determine the required gain of such repeaters so to ensure the signal from the repeater is the dominant component. A prototype of the small radio repeater is fabricated to verify the design performance through a standard free-space measurement setup.

An all-optical scheme for ultra-wideband (UWB) signal generation (positive and negative monocycle and doublet pulses) and multicasting using a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) is proposed and demonstrated. Five UWB signals (1 monocycle and 4 doublet pulses) are generated simultaneously from a single Gaussian optical pulse. The fractional bandwidths of the monocycle pulses are approximately 100% while those of the doublet pulses range from 100% to 133%. The UWB signals are then modulated using a 2(15)-1 pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS) and error-free performance for each multicast channel is obtained. PMID:21934951

An all-optical scheme for ultra-wideband (UWB) signal generation (positive and negative monocycle and doublet pulses) and multicasting using a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) is proposed and demonstrated. Five UWB signals (1 monocycle and 4 doublet pulses) are generated simultaneously from a single Gaussian optical pulse. The fractional bandwidths of the monocycle pulses are approximately 100% while those of the doublet pulses range from 100% to 133%. The UWB signals are then modulated using a 215 - 1 pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS) and error-free performance for each multicast channel is obtained.

The enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (ePOP) Canadian small-satellite was launched in September 2013. Included in this suite of eight scientific instruments is the Radio Receiver Instrument (RRI). The RRI has been used to measure VLF and HF radio waves from various ground and spontaneous ionospheric sources. The first dedicated ground transmission that was detected by RRI was from the Saskatoon Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) radar on Nov. 7, 2013 at 14 MHz. Several other passes over the Saskatoon SuperDARN radar have been recorded since then. Ground transmissions have also been observed from other radars, such as the SPEAR, HAARP, and SURA ionospheric heaters. However, the focus of this study will be on the results obtained from the SuperDARN passes. An analysis of the signal recorded by the RRI provides estimates of signal power, Doppler shift, polarization, absolute time delay, differential mode delay, and angle of arrival. By comparing these parameters to similar parameters derived from ray tracing simulations, ionospheric electron density structures may be detected and measured. Further analysis of the results from the other ground transmitters and future SuperDARN passes will be used to refine these results.

Provides background information on radio galaxies. Topic areas addressed include: what produces the radio emission; radio telescopes; locating radio galaxies; how distances to radio galaxies are found; physics of radio galaxies; computer simulations of radio galaxies; and the evolution of radio galaxies with cosmic time. (JN)

The National Blindness Prevention Program in Mali has broadcast messages on the radio about trachoma as part of the country's trachoma elimination strategy since 2008. In 2011, a radio impact survey using multi-stage cluster sampling was conducted in the regions of Kayes and Segou to assess radio listening habits, coverage of the broadcasts,…

This paper presents an ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse-radio radar signal processing platform used to analyze human respiratory features. Conventional radar systems used in human detection only analyze human respiration rates or the response of a target. However, additional respiratory signal information is available that has not been explored using radar detection. The authors previously proposed a modified raised cosine waveform (MRCW) respiration model and an iterative correlation search algorithm that could acquire additional respiratory features such as the inspiration and expiration speeds, respiration intensity, and respiration holding ratio. To realize real-time respiratory feature extraction by using the proposed UWB signal processing platform, this paper proposes a new four-segment linear waveform (FSLW) respiration model. This model offers a superior fit to the measured respiration signal compared with the MRCW model and decreases the computational complexity of feature extraction. In addition, an early-terminated iterative correlation search algorithm is presented, substantially decreasing the computational complexity and yielding negligible performance degradation. These extracted features can be considered the compressed signals used to decrease the amount of data storage required for use in long-term medical monitoring systems and can also be used in clinical diagnosis. The proposed respiratory feature extraction algorithm was designed and implemented using the proposed UWB radar signal processing platform including a radar front-end chip and an FPGA chip. The proposed radar system can detect human respiration rates at 0.1 to 1 Hz and facilitates the real-time analysis of the respiratory features of each respiration period. PMID:25667357

A false target deceptive jamming method for countering ultra-wideband synthetic aperture radar (UWB-SAR) is proposed in this paper, which is based on dechirp processing to intercepted UWB-SAR signal and inverse dechirp to jamming signal. The jammer quadrature down-converts and dechirps the intercepted UWB-SAR signal using a linear frequency modulation (LFM) signal oscillator, which could reduce the bandwidth and sample rate of analog-to-digital converter. Then, the jammer utilises the azimuth direction Doppler frequency phase between the false target and the jammer, and backward reflection coefficient template to modulate the phase of the intercepted UWB-SAR signal, and then delayed the modulated phase and also modulated the range direction Doppler frequency phase to the that. Finally, the jammer uses LFM signal oscillator to up-convert the narrowband jamming signal in order to recover the bandwidth of the signal. Parameter errors analysis and simulation results have shown that the detected parameters and motion characteristic errors reduce the resolution and offset the expected position of the false target, but it still could obtain an expected false target image. Theoretical analysis and simulation results indicated that the jamming signal proposed in this paper could produce a false target in the UWB-SAR image, which provide a feasible method for countering UWB-SAR in real time.

A hollow electrode enhancedradio frequency (rf) glow plasma excitation technique and its application to the chemical vapor deposition of microcrystalline silicon films have been studied. In this technique, the reactor has two types of hollow structure. One is a hollow counterelectrode, and the other serves as both a hollow counterelectrode and a hollow rf electrode. The application of these discharge types to semiconductor processing is studied in the case of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon thin films. High crystallinity, photosensitivity and a maximum deposition rate of 6.0 nm/s can all be achieved at plasma excitation frequency of 13.56 MHz and substrate temperature of 300 deg. C. Properties of these plasmas are investigated by observing the plasma emission pattern, optical emission spectrum analysis and electrical parameters of the rf electrode. It is found that the plasma technique using both types of hollow discharge not only results in higher intensity of SiH{sup *} and H{alpha} but also in much smaller self-bias voltage of the rf electrode. Faster processing of device grade hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon films can also be achieved under lower rf power compared to use of the hollow counterelectrode technique alone.

The use of a UWB system for sensing breathing activity of astronauts must account for many critical issues specific to the space environment. The aim of this paper is twofold. The first concerns the definition of design constraints about the pulse amplitude and waveform to transmit, as well as the immunity requirements of the receiver. The second issue concerns the assessment of the procedures and the characteristics of the algorithms to use for signal processing to retrieve the breathing frequency and respiration waveform. The algorithm has to work correctly in the presence of surrounding electromagnetic noise due to other sources in the environment. The highly reflecting walls increase the difficulty of the problem and the hostile scenario has to be accurately characterized. Examples of signal processing techniques able to recover breathing frequency in significant and realistic situations are shown and discussed. PMID:25558995

The article presents the design of triangular shaped fractal based antenna with circular slot for ultra wideband (UWB) application. The antenna is fed using microstrip line and has overall dimension of 24×24×1.6 mm3. The proposed antenna is covering the wide frequency bandwidth of 2.99-11.16 GHz and is achieved using simple fractal based triangular-circular geometries and asymmetrical ground plane. The antenna is designed and parametrical studies are performed using method of moment (MOM) based Full Wave Electromagnetic (EM) software Simulator Zeland IE3D. The prototype of proposed antenna is fabricated and tested to compare the simulated and measured results of various antenna parameters. The antenna has good impedance bandwidth, nearly constant gain and stable radiation pattern. Measured return loss shows fair agreement with simulated one. Also measured group delay variation obtained is less than 1.0 ns, which proves good time domain behavior of the proposed antenna.

be a passive component of the communication system which will need to operate in a time-varying multipath environment created as the robot camera moves over the ISS structure. In addition, due to many interference sources located on the ISS, SSO, LEO satellites and ground-based transmitters, selecting a frequency for the ISS and Mini-AERCam link which will coexist with all interferers poses a major design challenge. To meet all of these challenges, ultrawideband (UWB) radio technology is being studied for use in the Mini-AERCam communication and tracking subsystem. The research described in this report is focused on design and evaluation of passive tracking system algorithms based on UWBradio transmissions from mini-AERCam.

Recent terrorist activities and law-enforcement situations involving hostage situations underscore the need for effective through-wall imaging. Current building interior imaging systems are based on short-pulse waveforms, which require specially designed antennas to subdue unwanted ringing. In addition, periodically transmitted pulses of energy are easily recognizable by the intelligent adversary who may employ appropriate countermeasures to confound detection. A coherent polarimetric random noise radar architecture is being developed based on UWB technology and software defined radio, which has great promise in its ability to covertly image obscured targets. The main advantages of the random noise radar lie in two aspects: first, random noise waveform has an ideal "thumbtack" ambiguity function, i.e., its down range and cross range resolution can be separately controlled, thus providing unambiguous high resolution imaging at any distance; second, random noise waveform is inherently low probability of intercept (LPI) and low probability of detection (LPD), i.e., it is immune from detection, jamming, and interference. Thus, it is an ideal candidate sensor for covert imaging of obscured regions in hostile environments. The coherency in the system can be exploited to field a fully-polarimetric system that can take advantage of polarization features in target recognition. Moving personnel can also be detected using Doppler processing. Simulation studies are used to analyze backscattered signals from the walls, and humans and other targets behind the walls. Real-time data processing shows human activity behind the wall and human target tracking. The high resolution provides excellent multipath and clutter rejection.

The treatment of ovarian cancer has traditionally been intractable, and required novel approaches to improve therapeutic efficiency. This paper reports that thio-glucose bound gold nanoparticles (Glu-GNPs) can be used as a sensitizer to enhance ovarian cancer radiotherapy. The human ovarian cancer cells, SK-OV-3, were treated by gold nanoparticles (GNPs) alone, irradiation alone, or GNPs in addition to irradiation. Cell uptake was assayed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), while cytotoxicity induced by radiotherapy was measured using both 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo (-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide and clonogenic assays. The presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was determined using CM-H2-DCFDA confocal microscopy and cell apoptosis was determined by an Annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide (PI) kit with flow cytometry. The cells treated by Glu-GNPs resulted in an approximate 31% increase in nanoparticle uptake compared to naked GNPs (p < 0.005). Compared to the irradiation alone treatment, the intracellular uptake of Glu-GNPs resulted in increased inhibition of cell proliferation by 30.48% for 90 kVp and 26.88% for 6 MV irradiation. The interaction of x-ray radiation with GNPs induced elevated levels of ROS production, which is one of the mechanisms by which GNPs can enhance radiotherapy on ovarian cancer.

A novel inter-basestations (inter-BSs) based virtual private network (VPN) for the privacy and security enhanced 60 GHz radio-over-fiber (RoF) system using optical code-division multiplexing (OCDM) is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. By establishing inter-BSs VPN overlaying the network structure of a 60 GHz RoF system, the express and private paths for the communication of end-users under different BSs can be offered. In order to effectively establish the inter-BSs VPN, the OCDM encoding/decoding technology is employed in the RoF system. In each BS, a 58 GHz millimeter-wave (MMW) is used as the inter-BSs VPN channel, while a 60 GHz MMW is used as the common central station (CS)-BSs communication channel. The optical carriers used for the downlink, uplink and VPN link transmissions are all simultaneously generated in a lightwave-centralized CS, by utilizing four-wave mixing (FWM) effect in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The obtained results properly verify the feasibility of our proposed configuration of the inter-BSs VPN in the 60 GHz RoF system.

The Van Allen probes, low-altitude NOAA satellite, MetOp satellite, and riometer are used to analyze variations of precipitating energetic electron fluxes and cosmic radio noise absorption (CNA) driven by plasmaspheric hiss with respect to geomagnetic activities. The hiss-driven energetic electron precipitations (at L ~ 4.7-5.3, magnetic local time (MLT) ~ 8-9) are observed during geomagnetic quiet condition and substorms, respectively. We find that the CNA detected by riometers increased very little in the hiss-driven event during quiet condition on 6 September 2012. The hiss-driven enhancement of riometer was still little during the first substorm on 30 September 2012. However, the absorption detected by the riometer largely increased, while the energies of the injected electrons became higher during the second substorm on 30 September 2012. The enhancement of CNA (ΔCNA) observed by the riometer and calculated with precipitating energetic electrons is in agreement during the second substorm, implying that the precipitating energetic electrons increase CNA to an obviously detectable level of the riometer during the second substorm on 30 September 2012. The conclusion is consistent with Rodger et al. (2012), which suggest that the higher level of ΔCNA prefers to occur in the substorms, because substorms may produce more intense energetic electron precipitation associated with electron injection. Furthermore, the combination of the observations and theory calculations also suggests that higher-energy electron (>55 keV) precipitation contributes more to the ΔCNA than the lower energy electron precipitation. In this paper, the higher-energy electron precipitation is related to lower frequency hiss.

Four high frequency propagation paths were monitored from a transmitter located within the polar cap by four receivers located variously within the polar cap and at sub-auroral latitudes. Of these paths, one was contained entirely within the polar cap at all times, two were trans-auroral at all times, and one varied from trans-auroral during the day to polar cap during the night. Fourteen frequencies within the HF band were transmitted each hour for the duration of two 24 day experimental campaigns during the summer of 1988 and the winter of 1989. From an analysis of the received signals the confidence of signal recognition and signal strength were determined. During geomagnetically undisturbed periods the propagation behaviour resembled that of mid-latitude paths. During geomagnetically disturbed times, however, night-time propagation occurred on frequencies up to and sometimes over 10 MHz above the undisturbed night-time MUF, for periods of 2 to 6 h. These features appeared on the trans-auroral paths only and were attributed to E region (and occasionally F region) enhancement by auroral precipitation. APEs (auroral E propagation events) occurred on over 50% of nights. The occurrence of APEs also coincided with ionospheric storm periods when the HF band available for propagation was otherwise significantly narrowed due to a depletion of the F region electron density.

Enhanced field emission (EFE) presents the main impediment to higher acceleration gradients in superconducting niobium (Nb) radiofrequency cavities for particle accelerators. The strength, number and sources of EFE sites strongly depend on surface preparation and handling. The main objective of this thesis project is to systematically investigate the sources of EFE from Nb, to evaluate the best available surface preparation techniques with respect to resulting field emission, and to establish an optimized process to minimize or eliminate EFE. To achieve these goals, a scanning field emission microscope (SFEM) was designed and built as an extension to an existing commercial scanning electron microscope (SEM). In the SFEM chamber of ultra high vacuum, a sample is moved laterally in a raster pattern under a high voltage anode tip for EFE detection and localization. The sample is then transferred under vacuum to the SEM chamber equipped with an energy-dispersive x-ray spectrometer for individual emitting site characterization. Compared to other systems built for similar purposes, this apparatus has low cost and maintenance, high operational flexibility, considerably bigger scan area, as well as reliable performance. EFE sources from planar Nb have been studied after various surface preparation, including chemical etching and electropolishing, combined with ultrasonic or high-pressure water rinse. Emitters have been identified, analyzed and the preparation process has been examined and improved based on EFE results. As a result, field-emission-free or near field-emission-free surfaces at ~140 MV/m have been consistently achieved with the above techniques. Characterization on the remaining emitters leads to the conclusion that no evidence of intrinsic emitters, i.e., no fundamental electric field limit induced by EFE, has been observed up to ~140 MV/m. Chemically etched and electropolished Nb are compared and no significant difference is observed up to ~140 MV/m. To

We demonstrated a simple scheme to generate ultra wideband (UWB) doublet pulses by inputting a dark return-to-zero (RZ) signal into a fiber delay interferometer (FDI). An 0.625-Gbit/s dark-RZ pulse train where the pulse width is 120 ps was inputted into a FDI where the free spectral range (FSR) is 0.16 nm (˜20 GHz, according time delay is ˜50 ps) and the extinction ratio (ER) is 9 dB, and the phase difference of the two fiber arms was changed and controlled by adjusting the operation temperature of the FDI, by do so, UWB doublet pulses were directly generated at an output port of the FDI. The system parameter effects on the output UWB pulses were discussed. Moreover, we also numerically demonstrated that the UWB quadruplet pulses can be generated in the same set by optimizing system parameters. This scheme has some distinct advantages including easy integration, convenient tuning, good stability, and so on. Presented method also accords with the general features in future applied UWB-Over-Fiber communication system, such as, single optical source input, simple configuration and passive device.

This talk presents a brief overview of the ultra-wideband (UWB) RFID system with emphasis on the performance evaluation of a commercially available UWB-RFID system. There are many RFID systems available today, but many provide just basic identification for auditing and inventory tracking. For applications that require high precision real time tracking, UWB technology has been shown to be a viable solution. The use of extremely short bursts of RF pulses offers high immunity to interference from other RF systems, precise tracking due to sub-nanosecond time resolution, and robust performance in multipath environments. The UWB-RFID system Sapphire DART (Digital Active RFID & Tracking) will be introduced in this talk. Laboratory testing using Sapphire DART is performed to evaluate its capability such as coverage area, accuracy, ease of operation, and robustness. Performance evaluation of this system in an operational environment (a receiving warehouse) for inventory tracking is also conducted. Concepts of using the UWB-RFID technology to track astronauts and assets are being proposed for space exploration.

In this paper, the performance of a two user UWB multiple access (UWB-MA) system based on multiple-pulse multiple-delay (MPMD) modulation scheme in an indoor wireless channel is evaluated by computer simulations. The indoor multipath propagation channel model used in this study is based on the modified statistical Saleh-Valenzuela model proposed by Foerester and Li from Intel. The simulation results indicate that the multipath performance of MPMD modulated signals in a multiple access system outperforms the nonmultipath case as the number of autocorrelation function (ACF) sampling points increases for each user. This is an unusual but important result, since MPMD receiver exploits multipath phenomenon in indoor wireless channels to increase the BER performance, hence the transmission rate in a UWB-MA system.

An in-container monitoring sensor system is based on an UWB radar intrusion detector positioned in a container and having a range gate set to the farthest wall of the container from the detector. Multipath reflections within the container make every point on or in the container appear to be at the range gate, allowing intrusion detection anywhere in the container. The system also includes other sensors to provide false alarm discrimination, and may include other sensors to monitor other parameters, e.g. radiation. The sensor system also includes a control subsystem for controlling system operation. Communications and information extraction capability may also be included. A method of detecting intrusion into a container uses UWB radar, and may also include false alarm discrimination. A secure container has an UWB based monitoring system

This chapter presents the new approach to time-domain modeling of UWB channels containing multiple convex obstacles. Vector fitting (VF) algorithm (rational approximation) was used for deriving the closed form impulse response of multiple diffraction ray creeping on a cascade of convex obstacles. VF algorithm was performed with respect to new generalized variables proportional to frequency but including geometrical parameters of the obstacles also. The limits of approximation domain for vector fitting algorithm follow the range of ultra-wideband (UWB) channel parameters that can be met in practical UWB channel scenarios. Finally, the closed form impulse response of a creeping UTD ray was obtained. As the result we obtained impulse response of the channel as a function of normalized, with respect to geometrical parameters of the obstacles, time. It permits for calculation of channel responses for various objects without changing the body of a rational function. In that way the presented approach is general, simple, and effective.

Stochastic differential equations (SDEs) are used to model ultrawideband (UWB) indoor wireless channels. We show that the impulse responses for time-varying indoor wireless channels can be approximated in a mean-square sense as close as desired by impulse responses that can be realized by SDEs. The state variables represent the inphase and quadrature components of the UWB channel. The expected maximization and extended Kalman filter are employed to recursively identify and estimate the channel parameters and states, respectively, from online received signal strength measured data. Both resolvable and nonresolvable multipath received signals are considered and represented as small-scaled Nakagami fading. Themore » proposed models together with the estimation algorithm are tested using UWB indoor measurement data demonstrating the method’s viability and the results are presented.« less

In this paper, stochastic differential equations (SDEs) are used to model ultrawideband (UWB) indoor wireless channels. We show that the impulse responses for time-varying indoor wireless channels can be approximated in a mean square sense as close as desired by impulse responses that can be realized by SDEs. The state variables represent the inphase and quadrature components of the UWB channel. The expected maximization and extended Kalman filter are employed to recursively identify and estimate the channel parameters and states, respectively, from online received signal strength measured data. Both resolvable and non-resolvable multipath received signals are considered and represented as small-scaled Nakagami fading. The proposed models together with the estimation algorithm are tested using UWB indoor measurement data demonstrating the method s viability and the results are presented.

We report the first detection of radio emission from the reputedly jet-driving symbiotic star MWC 560, which is currently undergoing a multi-wavelength outburst (ATel #8653, #8832, and references therein).

A multi-burst transmitter for ultra-wideband (UWB) communication systems generates a sequence of precisely spaced RF bursts from a single trigger event. There are two oscillators in the transmitter circuit, a gated burst rate oscillator and a gated RF burst or RF power output oscillator. The burst rate oscillator produces a relatively low frequency, i.e., MHz, square wave output for a selected transmit cycle, and drives the RF burst oscillator, which produces RF bursts of much higher frequency, i.e., GHz, during the transmit cycle. The frequency of the burst rate oscillator sets the spacing of the RF burst packets. The first oscillator output passes through a bias driver to the second oscillator. The bias driver conditions, e.g., level shifts, the signal from the first oscillator for input into the second oscillator, and also controls the length of each RF burst. A trigger pulse actuates a timing circuit, formed of a flip-flop and associated reset time delay circuit, that controls the operation of the first oscillator, i.e., how long it oscillates (which defines the transmit cycle).

This chapter presents the design and performances of a compact, general-purpose, high-power ultra-wideband (UWB) source named GIMLI. The system was designed for dual use, homeland security and military applications. It is powered by a compact, coaxial 12-stage Marx generator with a rise time lower than 25 ns and an operating voltage up to 360 kV. A fast monocycle pulse is sharpened using a pulse former (MPF). The shaper stage comprises a switching module including a peaking and a grounding multi-channel spark gap under a N2 pressure of 6 MPa. The module is followed by a monopulse-to-monocycle converter based on a coaxial Blumlein pulse forming line. The bipolar signal measured at the output of the MPF has a duration shorter than 2 ns with a rise time of 250 ps. The peak-to-peak output voltage is 250 kV on a 50 Ω resistive load. Repetitive operation of the MPF has been experienced with a 200 Hz Tesla transformer developed by the CEA (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique). Electromagnetic energy is focused by a dedicated antenna. The designed antenna is a TEM half-horn with two ridges which improve the low-frequency focusing. High-power radiation tests show that the field measured at a distance of 9 m from the TEM Horn-antenna is higher than 120 kV/m.

Systems with high priority to safety and reliability such as monitoring systems on airports have to work properly. Fast information transmission, continuous access to databases, as well as the management of air traffic are most important for effective and safe operation. Sources of Intentional Electromagnetic Interference can be manufactured relatively easy using commercially available components by civilian persons with relevant expertise and can be used for sabotage or blackmail purposes. For analyzing the weak points of a system existing on airports, it is necessary to reproduce its setup. In this investigation a UHF transmitter of a wireless communication device is developed and its breakdown behavior to unipolar fast rise pulses (UWB) is determined. A breakdown is a non-permanent damage, but includes a type of upset, that requires manual reset or at least stops communications for some period of time. The transmitter consists of three main components connected by data cables: power supply, microcontroller, and loop antenna. The immunity tests are accomplished as a function of the electromagnetic field direction to the device using an open TEM waveguide.

This paper describes the possibility of detecting tumors in human breast using ultra-wideband (UWB) circular synthetic aperture radar (CSAR). CSAR is a subset of SAR which is a radar imaging technique using a circular data acquisition pattern. Tomographic image reconstruction is done using a time domain global back projection technique adapted to CSAR. Experiments are conducted on a breast phantoms made of pork fat emulating normal and cancerous conditions. Preliminary experimental results show that microwave imaging of a breast phantom using UWB-CSAR is a simple and low-cost method, efficiently capable of detecting the presence of tumors. PMID:26737919

Ultra-Wideband technology is regarded by many as one of the future key technologies in communications and positioning. In this paper a TDOA/RSS hybrid positioning algorithm is described for accurate underground mine localization of a sensor in a network of known beacons. The sensor measures the range to the beacons using an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) signal and uses statistical inference to correct for the error due to multipath and NLOS in underground mine. It shows that a TDOA/RSS algorithm can be used to improved positioning accuracy over beacon measurement. Simulation results show perfect performance with UWB ranging and TDOA/RSS hybrid localization algorithm.

In some GPS failure conditions, positioning for mobile target is difficult. This paper proposed a new method based on INS/UWB for attitude angle and position synchronous tracking of indoor carrier. Firstly, error model of INS/UWB integrated system is built, including error equation of INS and UWB. And combined filtering model of INS/UWB is researched. Simulation results show that the two subsystems are complementary. Secondly, integrated navigation data fusion strategy of INS/UWB based on Kalman filtering theory is proposed. Simulation results show that FAKF method is better than the conventional Kalman filtering. Finally, an indoor experiment platform is established to verify the integrated navigation theory of INS/UWB, which is geared to the needs of coal mine working environment. Static and dynamic positioning results show that the INS/UWB integrated navigation system is stable and real-time, positioning precision meets the requirements of working condition and is better than any independent subsystem. PMID:25121111

In some GPS failure conditions, positioning for mobile target is difficult. This paper proposed a new method based on INS/UWB for attitude angle and position synchronous tracking of indoor carrier. Firstly, error model of INS/UWB integrated system is built, including error equation of INS and UWB. And combined filtering model of INS/UWB is researched. Simulation results show that the two subsystems are complementary. Secondly, integrated navigation data fusion strategy of INS/UWB based on Kalman filtering theory is proposed. Simulation results show that FAKF method is better than the conventional Kalman filtering. Finally, an indoor experiment platform is established to verify the integrated navigation theory of INS/UWB, which is geared to the needs of coal mine working environment. Static and dynamic positioning results show that the INS/UWB integrated navigation system is stable and real-time, positioning precision meets the requirements of working condition and is better than any independent subsystem. PMID:25121111

... emission limit, following the procedures described in § 15.521. (f) UWB systems operating under the... necessity to operate with a fixed indoor infrastructure, e.g., a transmitter that must be connected to the... considered to operate indoors provided the emissions are directed towards the ground. (5) A...

The detection of a moving target using an IR-UWB Radar involves the core task of separating the waves reflected by the static background and by the moving target. This paper investigates the capacity of the low-rank and sparse matrix decomposition approach to separate the background and the foreground in the trend of UWB Radar-based moving target detection. Robust PCA models are criticized for being batched-data-oriented, which makes them inconvenient in realistic environments where frames need to be processed as they are recorded in real time. In this paper, a novel method based on overlapping-windows processing is proposed to cope with online processing. The method consists of processing a small batch of frames which will be continually updated without changing its size as new frames are captured. We prove that RPCA (via its Inexact Augmented Lagrange Multiplier (IALM) model) can successfully separate the two subspaces, which enhances the accuracy of target detection. The overlapping-windows processing method converges on the optimal solution with its batch counterpart (i.e., processing batched data with RPCA), and both methods prove the robustness and efficiency of the RPCA over the classic PCA and the commonly used exponential averaging method. PMID:27598159

The Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) is one of the fledging paradigms that the next generation of wireless systems is sprouting towards. Among them, a more specific category is the Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) used for health monitoring. On the other hand, Ultra-Wideband (UWB) comes with a number of desirable features at the physical layer for wireless communications. One big challenge in adoption of UWB in WBAN is the fact that signals get attenuated exponentially. Due to the intrinsic structural complexity in human body, electromagnetic waves show a profound variation during propagation through it. The reflection and transmission coefficients of human body are highly dependent upon the dielectric constants as well as upon the frequency. The difference in structural materials such as fat, muscles and blood essentially makes electromagnetic wave attenuation to be different along the way. Thus, a complete characterization of body channel is a challenging task. The connection between attenuation and frequency of the signal makes the investigation of UWB in WBAN an interesting proposition. In this paper, we study analytically the impact of body channels on electromagnetic signal propagation with reference to UWB. In the process, scattering, reflectivity and transmitivity have been addressed with analysis of approximate layer-wise modeling, and with numerical depictions. Pulses with Gaussian profile have been employed in our analysis. It shows that, under reasonable practical approximations, the human body channel can be modeled in layers so as to have the effects of total reflections or total transmissions in certain frequency bands. This could help decide such design issues as antenna characteristics of implant devices for WBAN employing UWB. PMID:22219673

A major component of the enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (e-POP) Radio Receiver Instrument (RRI) mission is to utilize artificially generated radio emissions to study High Frequency (HF) radio wave propagation in the ionosphere. In the North American and European sectors, communications between amateur radio operators are a persistent and abundant source source of HF transmissions. We present the results of HF radio wave propagation experiments using amateur radio transmissions as an HF source for e-POP RRI. We detail how a distributed and autonomously operated amateur radio network can be leveraged to study HF radio wave propagation as well as the structuring and dynamics of the ionosphere over a large geographic region. In one case, the sudden disappearance of nearly two-dozen amateur radio HF sources located in the midwestern United States was used to detect a enhancement in foF2 in that same region. We compare our results to those from other more conventional radio instruments and models of the ionosphere to demonstrate the scientific merit of incorporating amateur radio networks for radio science at HF.

On February 14, 2002, the FCC adopted a FIRST REPORT AND ORDER, released it on April 22, 2002, and on May 16, 2002 published in the Federal Register a Final Rule, permitting marketing and operation of new products incorporating UWB technology. Wireless product developers are working to rapidly bring this versatile, powerful and expectedly inexpensive technology into numerous consumer wireless devices. Past studies addressing the potential for passenger-carried portable electronic devices (PEDs) to interfere with aircraft electronic systems suggest that UWB transmitters may pose a significant threat to aircraft communication and navigation radio receivers. NASA, United Airlines and Eagles Wings Incorporated have performed preliminary testing that clearly shows the potential for handheld UWB transmitters to cause cockpit failure indications for the air traffic control radio beacon system (ATCRBS), blanking of aircraft on the traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS) displays, and cause erratic motion and failure of instrument landing system (ILS) localizer and glideslope pointers on the pilot horizontal situation and attitude director displays. This report provides details of the preliminary testing and recommends further assessment of aircraft systems for susceptibility to UWB electromagnetic interference.

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing impulse radio ultra wideband (IR-UWB) signaling technique for reliable, wireless transmission of dopamine concentration levels recorded by fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) at a carbon-fiber microelectrode (CFM) to address the problem of elevated data rates in high-channel-count neurochemical monitoring. Utilizing an FSCV-sensing chip fabricated in AMS 0.35μm 2P/4M CMOS, a 3-5-GHz, IR-UWB transceiver (TRX) chip fabricated in TSMC 90nm 1P/9M RF CMOS, and two off-chip, miniature, UWB antennae, wireless transfer of pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) data at 50Mbps over a distance of UWB wireless transmission of dopamine concentration levels prerecorded with FSCV at a CFM during flow injection analysis (FIA) is also demonstrated with transmitter (TX) power dissipation of only ~4.4μW from 1.2V, representing two orders of magnitude reduction in TX power consumption compared to that of a conventional frequency-shift-keyed (FSK) link operating at ~433MHz. PMID:26737929

This paper is concerned with the issues associated with the suppression of radio frequency interference (RFI) for a synchronous impulse reconstruction (SIRE) ultra-wideband (UWB) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that is currently being designed and built at the Army Research Laboratory. In this effort, we are developing the next version of the UWB radar that can employ inexpensive A/D converters to digitize wideband signals using the equivalent time sampling technique. In this presentation, we provide an analytical model for the signature of the RFI sources that are measured via an equivalent time sampling scheme. This formulation reveals spectral as well as temporal properties of the measured RFI signals that would aid a user in developing sniff (passive) data collection strategies for constructing adaptive digital signal processing methods for suppressing RFI sources.

This invention provides a novel high-accuracy indoor ranging device that uses ultra-wideband (UWB) RF pulsing with low-power and low-cost electronics. A unique of the present invention is that it exploits multiple measurements in time and space for very accurate ranging. The wideband radio signals utilized herein are particularly suited to ranging in harsh RF environments because they allow signal reconstruction in spite of multipath propagation distortion. Furthermore, the ranging and positioning techniques discussed herein directly address many of the known technical challenges encountered in UWB localization regarding synchronization and sampling. In the method developed, noisy, corrupted signals can be recovered by repeating range measurements across a channel, and the distance measurements are combined from many locations surrounding the target in a way that minimizes the range biases associated to indirect flight paths and through-wall propagation delays.

This triennium has seen a phenomenal investment in development of observational radio astronomy facilities in all parts of the globe at a scale that significantly impacts the international community. This includes both major enhancements such as the transition from the VLA to the EVLA in North America, and the development of new facilities such as LOFAR, ALMA, FAST, and Square Kilometre Array precursor telescopes in Australia and South Africa. These developments are driven by advances in radio-frequency, digital and information technologies that tremendously enhance the capabilities in radio astronomy. These new developments foreshadow major scientific advances driven by radio observations in the next triennium. We highlight these facility developments in section 3 of this report. A selection of science highlight from this triennium are summarized in section 2.

Examines the effectiveness of the radio in education and the crucial role of the radio in distance education in first half of the 20th century; dramatic social changes in the 1960s that led to a review of educational institutions and of educational media; and the radio today as a neglected but inexpensive medium of communication that should be…

The rapid development of wireless broadband communication technology has affected the location accuracy of worldwide radio monitoring stations that employ time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) location technology. In this study, TDOA-based location technology was implemented in Taiwan for the first time according to International Telecommunications Union Radiocommunication (ITU-R) recommendations regarding monitoring and location applications. To improve location accuracy, various scenarios, such as a three-dimensional environment (considering an unequal locating antenna configuration), were investigated. Subsequently, the proposed integrated cross-correlation and genetic algorithm was evaluated in the metropolitan area of Tainan. The results indicated that the location accuracy at a circular error probability of 50% was less than 60 m when a multipath effect was present in the area. Moreover, compared with hyperbolic algorithms that have been applied in conventional TDOA-based location systems, the proposed algorithm yielded 17-fold and 19-fold improvements in the mean difference when the location position of the interference station was favorable and unfavorable, respectively. Hence, the various forms of radio interference, such as low transmission power, burst and weak signals, and metropolitan interference, was proved to be easily identified, located, and removed. PMID:24763254

The rapid development of wireless broadband communication technology has affected the location accuracy of worldwide radio monitoring stations that employ time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) location technology. In this study, TDOA-based location technology was implemented in Taiwan for the first time according to International Telecommunications Union Radiocommunication (ITU-R) recommendations regarding monitoring and location applications. To improve location accuracy, various scenarios, such as a three-dimensional environment (considering an unequal locating antenna configuration), were investigated. Subsequently, the proposed integrated cross-correlation and genetic algorithm was evaluated in the metropolitan area of Tainan. The results indicated that the location accuracy at a circular error probability of 50% was less than 60 m when a multipath effect was present in the area. Moreover, compared with hyperbolic algorithms that have been applied in conventional TDOA-based location systems, the proposed algorithm yielded 17-fold and 19-fold improvements in the mean difference when the location position of the interference station was favorable and unfavorable, respectively. Hence, the various forms of radio interference, such as low transmission power, burst and weak signals, and metropolitan interference, was proved to be easily identified, located, and removed. PMID:24763254

The Emerging Communication Technology (ECT) project investigated three First Mile communication technologies in support of NASA s Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle (2nd Gen RLV), Orbital Space Plane, Advanced Range Technology Working Group (ARTWG) and the Advanced Spaceport Technology Working Group (ASTWG). These First Mile technologies have the purpose of interconnecting mobile users with existing Range Communication infrastructures. ECT was a continuation of the Range Information System Management (RISM) task started in 2002. RISM identified the three advance communication technologies investigated under ECT. These were Wireless Ethernet (Wi-Fi), Free Space Optics (FSO), and Ultra Wideband (UWB). Due to the report s size, it has been broken into three volumes: 1) Main Report 2) Appendices 3) UWB

A novel technique to introduce an additional low frequency band to compact ultra wideband (UWB) slot antennas is proposed in this paper. To get an additional Bluetooth band, a parasitic strip is mounted on the back side of the slot edge. Because of the interaction of the strip and the slot edge, the Bluetooth band can be obtained while a notch band between the Bluetooth band and UWB band also appears. Two types of feeding, coplanar waveguide and microstrip line, are investigated. The proposed antennas are both fabricated on a low-cost FR4 substrate and have compact size (24 mm × 28 mm × 1 mm). The good agreement between measured and simulated results verifies our design.

This paper presents a performances study of UWB monopole antenna using half-elliptic radiator conformed on elliptical surface. The proposed antenna, simulated using microwave studio computer CST and High frequency simulator structure HFSS, is designed to operate in frequency interval over 3.1 to 40 GHz. Good return loss and radiation pattern characteristics are obtained in the frequency band of interest. The proposed antenna structure is suitable for ultra-wideband applications, which is, required for many wearable electronics applications.

The paper describes some EMC aspects related to a UWB radar for monitoring astronauts breathing activity. Compliance to EMC space standards forces some design aspects, in particular the peak voltage and the pulse waveform. Moreover some simulations were carried out to consider realistic operating condition. In the first case the interference towards a victim wifi circuit was analyzed, in the second case the effect of the environment on the radiated pulse was studied.

Through-wall respiration detection using Ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse radar can be applied to the post-disaster rescue, e.g., searching living persons trapped in ruined buildings after an earthquake. Since strong interference signals always exist in the real-life scenarios, such as static clutter, noise, etc., while the respiratory signal is very weak, the signal to noise and clutter ratio (SNCR) is quite low. Therefore, through-wall respiration detection using UWB impulse radar under low SNCR is a challenging work in the research field of searching survivors after disaster. In this paper, an improved UWB respiratory signal model is built up based on an even power of cosine function for the first time. This model is used to reveal the harmonic structure of respiratory signal, based on which a novel high-performance respiration detection algorithm is proposed. This novel algorithm is assessed by experimental verification and simulation and shows about a 1.5dB improvement of SNR and SNCR. PMID:24109862

A low-cost coplanar waveguide fed compact ultrawideband (UWB) antenna with band rejection characteristics for wireless local area network (WLAN) is proposed. The notch band characteristic is achieved by etching half wavelength C-shaped annular ring slot in the radiating patch. By properly choosing the radius and position of the slot, the notch band can be adjusted and controlled. With an overall size of 18.7 mm × 17.6 mm, the antenna turns out to be one of the smallest UWB antennas with band-notched characteristics. It has a wide fractional bandwidth of 130% (2.9–13.7 GHz) with VSWR < 2 and rejecting IEEE 802.11a and HIPERLAN/2 frequency band of 5.1–5.9 GHz. Stable omnidirectional radiation patterns in the H plane with an average gain of 4.4 dBi are obtained. The band-notch mechanism of the proposed antenna is examined by HFSS simulator. A good agreement is found between measured and simulated results indicating that the proposed antenna is well suited for integration into portable devices for UWB applications. PMID:27088125

Cubic Zn{sub 1-x}Mg{sub x}O thin films were produced by Plasma-Enhanced Molecular Beam Epitaxy. Oxygen flow rate and applied Radio-Frequency (RF) plasma power were varied to investigate the impact on film growth and optoelectronic device performance. Solar-blind and visible-blind detectors were fabricated with metal-semiconductor-metal interdigitated Ni/Mg/Au contacts and responsivity is compared under different growth conditions. Increasing oxygen flow rate and RF plasma power increased Zn incorporation in the film, which leads to phase segregation at relatively high Zn/Mg ratio. Responsivity as high as 61 A/W was measured in phase-segregated ZnMgO visible-blind detectors.

In developing countries with high rates of poverty and illiteracy, radio is emerging as an excellent medium for delivering information on health issues, family planning, nutrition, and agricultural development. Since radio does not require wired electricity, it can reach remote rural populations. Surveys have found that between 50-75% of poor rural households in developing countries own radios, and the majority listen to educational radio at least once a week. A program that reaches the urban poor outside of Lima, Peru, has been instrumental in controlling the spread of cholera. A Bolivian station broadcasts 8 hours of literacy, health, agricultural, and cultural programming a day to an audience of more than 2 million Aymara Indians. Small village radio stations with a broadcast range of 15 miles can be established for under US$400 and can generally achieve sustainability through local fundraising events such as raffles. In many cases, listeners have become broadcasters at their local radio stations. PMID:12286181

The book is concerned with the design of microelectronic radio receivers and their components based on semiconductor and hybrid integrated circuits. Topics discussed include the hierarchical structure of radio receivers, the synthesis of structural schemes, the design of the principal functional units, and the design of radio receiver systems with digital signal processing. The discussion also covers the integrated circuits of multifunctional amplifiers, analog multipliers, charge-transfer devices, frequency filters, piezoelectronic devices, and microwave amplifiers, filters, and mixers.

Wireless personal area network (WPAN) is an emerging in wireless technology for short range indoor and outdoor communication applications. A more specific category of WPAN is the wireless body area network (WBAN) used for health monitoring. On the other hand, multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM) ultra-wideband (UWB) comes with a number of desirable features at the physical layer for wireless communications, for example, very high data rate. One big challenge in adoption of multiband UWB in WBAN is the fact that channel estimation becomes difficult under the constraint of extremely low transmission power. Moreover, the heterogeneous environment of WBAN causes a dense multipath wireless channel. Therefore, effective channel estimation is required in the receiver of WBAN-based healthcare system that uses multiband UWB. In this paper, we first outline the MB-OFDM UWB system. Then, we present an overview of channel estimation techniques proposed/investigated for multiband UWB communications with emphasis on their strengths and weaknesses. Useful suggestions are given to overcome the weaknesses so that these methods can be particularly useful for WBAN channels. Also, we analyze the comparative performances of the techniques using computer simulation in order to find the energy-efficient channel estimation methods for WBAN-based healthcare systems. PMID:21046206

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology has revolutionized the concept of asset tracking. By affixing an RFID tag to a valued asset, one can track the item throughout any facility where RIFD readers are in place, thereby alerting inspectors to theft, misuse, and misplacement of the tracked item. While not yet implemented for tracking very high value assets, RFID technology is already widely used in many industries as the standard for asset tracking. A subset of RFID technology exists called Ultra-Wide-Band (UWB) RFID. While traditional (sometimes called narrow-band) RFID technology transmits a continuous sine-wave signal of a narrow frequency range, UWB technology works by transmitting signals as short pulses of a broad frequency range. This improves performance in several areas, namely, range, precision, and accuracy of motion detection. Because of the nature of the technology, it also performs well in close proximity to metal, which sets it apart from traditional RFID. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current state of UWB RFID technology and research the areas where it already is being used. This is accomplished through study of publicly known uses of the technology as well as personal exploration of RFID hardware and software. This paper presents the findings in a general manner to facilitate their usefulness for diverse applications.

Optimization of metal-based transparent conductors (MTCs) made of silver and aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) prepared by radio-frequency (r.f.) sputtering has been carried out through tuning of metal film properties. The influence of morphology and related plasmonic features of AZO/Ag/AZO MTCs on their optical and electrical performance is demonstrated and it is shown that the nominal thickness of the silver layer itself is not the most crucial value determining the MTC performance. The MTC performance has been optimized by a search of deposition conditions ensuring fractal-type metal layer formation up to a certain coalescence state that enables full gaining from silver optical properties, including its plasmonic features. For 150 W- and 200 W-deposited silver, MTCs with maximum transmittance as high as 83.6% have been obtained. These coatings have a figure of merit as good as 0.01 Ω-1 and a remarkably wide spectral transparency region: transmittance higher than 70% down to 1200 nm for 200W-samples. Modelling of the MTC coatings is proposed additionally, based on variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometric measurements, which takes into account the variation of the optical properties of silver when deposited in various conditions and embedded in a semiconductor stack.

This report summarizes information about the history, technology, and operation of educational radio in the U.S. Also presented are the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) rules and regulations concerning the licensing and channel assignment of educational radio, and its auxiliary special broadcast services. Included are the application…

The activities of the Deep Space Network in support of Radio Astronomy Operations during April and May 1981 are reported. Work in progres in support of an experiment selected for use of the DSN by the Radio Astronomy Experiment Selection Panel, Twin Quasi-Stellar Object VLBI, is reported.

The activities of the Deep Space Network in support of radio and radar astronomy operations during July and August 1980 are reported. A brief update on the OSS-sponsored planetary radio astronomy experiment is provided. Also included are two updates, one each from Spain and Australia on current host country activities.

The activities of the Deep Space Network in support of radio astronomy operations during the first quarter of 1981 are reported. Results of the use of a low noise maser are presented, as well as updates in DSN support of experiments sanctioned by the Radio Astronomy Experiment Selection Panel.

The activities of the DSN in support of Radio and Radar Astronomy Operations during September through December 1980 are described. Emphasis is on a report of an experiment selected for use of the DSN by the radio Astronomy Experiment Selection Panel: that of VLBI observations of the energetic galactic object SS-433.

Up to the present time six classes of radio stars have been established. The signals are almost always very faint and drastically variable. Hence their discovery has owed as much to serendipity as to the highly sophisticated equipment and techniques that have been used. When the variations are regular, as with the pulsars, this characteristic can be exploited very successfully in the search for new objects as well as in the detailed study of those that are already known. The detection of the most erratically variable radio stars, the flare stars and the x-ray stars, is primarily a matter of luck and patience. In the case of the novas, one at least knows where and oughly when to look for radio emission. A very sensitive interferometer is clearly the best instrument to use in the initial detection of a radio star. The fact that weak background sources are frequently present makes it essential to prove that the position of a radio source agrees with that of a star to within a few arc seconds. The potential of radio astronomy for the study of radio stars will not be realized until more powerful instruments than those that are available today can be utilized. So far, we have been able to see only the most luminous of the radio stars. PMID:17836594

As with commercial stations, the underlying premise of the college radio station is to serve the community, whether it be the campus community or the community at large, but in unique ways often geared to underserved niches of the population. Much of college radio's charm lies in its unpredictable nature and constant mutations. The stations give…

Ultra wideband (UWB) is the most preferred candidate for body area networks (BAN). The higher data rate and lower multipath fading makes it highly suitable for the design of BAN. However, narrowband interference (NBI) may significantly degrade the performance of UWB. The paper presents an effective method of NBI mitigation for UWB BAN. The method uses modified Hermite pulse (MHP) in lieu of Gaussian and other pulse shapes. The spectral characteristics of the MHP make them immune to interference. The performance has been tested in various body postures in the CM4 channel model of the BAN, and further validated by transmitting medical signals like electrocardiography and MRI. The results show that MHP pulse is highly immune to NBI.

The structure, composition and morphology of a radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputter-deposited dense nano-hydroxyapatite (HA) coating that was deposited on the surface of an AZ31 magnesium alloy were characterized using AFM, SEM, EDX and XRD. The results obtained from SEM and XRD experiments revealed that the bias applied during the deposition of the HA coating resulted in a decrease in the grain and crystallite size of the film having a crucial role in enhancing the mechanical properties of the fabricated biocomposites. A maximum hardness of 9.04 GPa was found for the HA coating, which was prepared using a bias of -50 V. The hardness of the HA film deposited on the grounded substrate (GS) was found to be 4.9 GPa. The elastic strain to failure (H/E) and the plastic deformation resistance (H(3)/E(2)) for an indentation depth of 50 nm for the HA coating fabricated at a bias of -50 V was found to increase by ~30% and ~74%, respectively, compared with the coating deposited at the GS holder. The nanoindentation tests demonstrated that all of the HA coatings increased the surface hardness on both the microscale and the nanoscale. Therefore, the results revealed that the films deposited on the surface of the AZ31 magnesium alloy at a negative substrate bias can significantly enhance the wear resistance of this resorbable alloy. PMID:25792410

This letter proposes a UWB signaling localization scheme for indoor multipath channel. It demonstrates that the proposed method does not require LOS path (LP) and is suitable for severe non line-of-sight (NLOS) condition. A low-complexity TOA estimation algorithm, the strongest path (SP) detection by convolution, is designed, which is easier to implement than the LP detection since it dispenses with the process of threshold setting. Experiments under NLOS channels in IEEE.802.15.4a are conducted and the localization influences due to the algorithm parameters are discussed. The results prove the feasibility of the proposed localization scheme under the indoor multipath NLOS environment.

Almost 50 years after radio pulsars were discovered in 1967, our understanding of these objects remains incomplete. On the one hand, within a few years it became clear that neutron star rotation gives rise to the extremely stable sequence of radio pulses, that the kinetic energy of rotation provides the reservoir of energy, and that electromagnetic fields are the braking mechanism. On the other hand, no consensus regarding the mechanism of coherent radio emission or the conversion of electromagnetic energy to particle energy yet exists. In this review, we report on three aspects of pulsar structure that have seen recent progress: the self-consistent theory of the magnetosphere of an oblique magnetic rotator; the location, geometry, and optics of radio emission; and evolution of the angle between spin and magnetic axes. These allow us to take the next step in understanding the physical nature of the pulsar activity.

Deep Space Network (DSN) 26- and 64-meter antenna stations were utilized in support of Radio Astronomy Experiment Selection Panel experiments. Within a time span of 10 days, in May 1983 (267.75 hours total), nine RAES experiments were supported. Most of these experiments involved multifacility interferometry using Mark 3 data recording terminals and as many as six non-DSN observatories. Investigations of black holes, quasars, galaxies, and radio sources are discussed.

The optical and electrical properties of silicon-incorporated hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H:Si) films deposited via the radio frequency (RF) plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method using a mixture of CH4, H2, and SiH4 were observed. The silane gas whose ranged from 0 to 25 vol.% [SiH4/(SiH4 + CH4) was fed into the reactor while the other deposition parameters were kept constant. The basic properties of these films were investigated via Raman spectroscopy, UV-visible spectrometry, I-V measurement, and surface profiling. The experiment results showed that the film thickness increased from 300 nm to 800 nm for the same deposition time as the silane gas increased. The Raman spectrum obtained from the silicon-incorporated a-C:H films suggested that the film property changed from graphitic-like to more diamond-like. As the silane gas increased, the optical gap, E04, slightly increased from 1.98 eV to 2.62 eV. It was shown that the Si atoms incorporated into the a-C:H films reduced the size of the sp2 clusters. As for the I-V characteristics, the Si-incorporated a-C:H films had a lower leakage current than the a-C:H films without Si. PMID:27483937

To quantify the agility of a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system using an automatic target recognition (ATR) system to detect targets obscured by foliage, an ultra-wideband, UHF- band, polarimetric SAR was constructed by ERIM under ARPA funding and installed on a Navy P-3 aircraft controlled by the Naval Air Warfare Center. The system was implemented as an upgrade to the existing X-, L-, and C-band SAR system already on this aircraft. A series of experiments funded by ARPA and Wright Laboratory were undertaken in 1995 to investigate foliage penetration (FOPEN). In this paper, the data and ground truth collected and their utility for investigations of FOPEN phenomenology and ATR algorithms will be presented. These data are being placed into a database for distribution to ATR algorithm developers. The characteristics of the P-3 UWB SAR will be discussed. The image formation technique used will be presented, along with the RFI suppression techniques used. Of particular interest will be the technique used for the required motion compensation. Results from recent investigations using the P-3 UWB SAR data will be discussed.

A novel technique to add an extra Bluetooth band and triple notch bands simultaneously to a compact ultra-wideband (UWB) monopole antenna is presented. This scissors-shaped UWB antenna, covering 2.9 GHz-12.5 GHz, is fed by a special microstrip line. To create an extra Bluetooth band centered at 2.45 GHz, an arc-shaped stub is attached to the high concentrated current area right of the feed line and a rectangular slot is etched in the radiation patch. Besides, a notch band for WLAN (5.6 GHz-6.15 GHz) is also obtained. In addition, by connecting two asymmetric stubs to the feed line, two other notch bands in 3.28 GHz-3.8 GHz for WiMAX and 7.1 GHz-7.76 GHz for downlink of X-band satellite communication systems are achieved. The proposed antenna with compact size of 20 mm × 26 mm is fabricated and measured, showing stable antenna gain and good omni-directional radiation patterns in H-plane.

This paper describes a divide-by-two injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) for frequency synthesizers as used in multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) ultra-wideband (UWB) systems. By means of dual-injection technique and other conventional tuning techniques, such as DCCA and varactor tuning, the divider demonstrates a wide locking range while consuming much less power. The chip was fabricated in the Jazz 0.18 μm RF CMOS process. The measurement results show that the divider achieves a locking range of 4.85 GHz (6.23 to 11.08 GHz) at an input power of 8 dBm. The core circuit without the test buffer consumes only 3.7 mA from a 1.8 V power supply and has a die area of 0.38 × 0.28 mm2. The wide locking range combined with low power consumption makes the ILFD suitable for its application in UWB systems.

A modified electromagnetic-bandgap (M-EBG) structure and its application to planar monopole ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna are presented. The proposed M-EBG which comprises two strip patch and an edge-located via can perform dual notched bands. By properly designing and placing strip patch near the feedline, the proposed M-EBG not only possesses a simple structure and compact size but also exhibits good band rejection. Moreover, it is easy to tune the dual notched bands by altering the dimensions of the M-EBG. A demonstration antenna with dual band-notched characteristics is designed and fabricated to validate the proposed method. The results show that the proposed antenna can satisfy the requirements of VSWR < 2 over UWB 3.1-10.6 GHz, except for the rejected bands of the world interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) and the wireless local area network (WLAN) at 3.5 GHz and 5.5 GHz, respectively. PMID:24170984

A modified electromagnetic-bandgap (M-EBG) structure and its application to planar monopole ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna are presented. The proposed M-EBG which comprises two strip patch and an edge-located via can perform dual notched bands. By properly designing and placing strip patch near the feedline, the proposed M-EBG not only possesses a simple structure and compact size but also exhibits good band rejection. Moreover, it is easy to tune the dual notched bands by altering the dimensions of the M-EBG. A demonstration antenna with dual band-notched characteristics is designed and fabricated to validate the proposed method. The results show that the proposed antenna can satisfy the requirements of VSWR < 2 over UWB 3.1–10.6 GHz, except for the rejected bands of the world interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) and the wireless local area network (WLAN) at 3.5 GHz and 5.5 GHz, respectively. PMID:24170984

The following subject areas are covered: (1) scientific opportunities (millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength astronomy; meter to hectometer astronomy; the Sun, stars, pulsars, interstellar masers, and extrasolar planets; the planets, asteroids, and comets; radio galaxies, quasars, and cosmology; and challenges for radio astronomy in the 1990's); (2) recommendations for new facilities (the millimeter arrays, medium scale instruments, and small-scale projects); (3) continuing activities and maintenance, upgrading of telescopes and instrumentation; (4) long range programs and technology development; and (5) social, political, and organizational considerations.

A novel technology to obtain binary phase-coded ultrawideband (UWB) signals for direct-sequence spread-spectrum communication systems is investigated by using a cost-effective incoherent source. The bipolar encoding is performed based on an all-fiber spectrum shaper composed of two FBG arrays to tailor the optical spectrum, and a section of single-mode fiber to achieve incoherent frequency-to-time conversion. We demonstrate a 1.325-Gb/s UWB encoding system by the use of binary spreading codes of 4-chip length via computer simulations. The proposed bipolar UWB encoding technology can be applied to high-speed UWB-over-fiber communication systems.

Radio frequency heating (RFH) technologies use electromagnetic energy in the radio frequency (RF) band to heat soil in situ, thereby potentially enhancing the performance of standard soil vapor extraction (SVE) technologies. Contaminants are removed from in situ soils and transfe...

Recently, new definitions of shielding effectiveness (SE) for high-frequency and transient electromagnetic fields were introduced by Klinkenbusch (2005). Numerical results were shown for closed as well as for non closed cylindrical shields. In the present work, a measurement procedure is introduced using ultra wideband (UWB) electromagnetic field pulses. The procedure provides a quick way to determine the transient shielding effectiveness of an enclosure without performing time consuming frequency domain measurements. For demonstration, a cylindrical enclosure made of conductive textile is examined. The field pulses are generated inside an open TEM-waveguide. From the measurement of the transient electric and magnetic fields with and without the shield in place, the electric and magnetic shielding effectiveness of the shielding material as well as the transient shielding effectiveness of the enclosure are derived.

The magnetic distortions in indoor environment affects the accuracy of yaw angle estimation using magnetometer. Thus, the accuracy of indoor localization based on inertial-magnetic sensors will be affected as well. To address this issue, this paper proposes a magnetometer-free solution for indoor human localization and yaw angle estimation. The proposed algorithm fuses a wearable inertial sensor consisting of MEMS-based accelerometer and gyroscope with a portable ultra-wideband (UWB) localization system in a cascaded two-step filter consisting of a tilt Kalman filter and a localization Kalman filter. By benchmarking against an optical motion capture system, the experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can accurately track position and velocity as well as the yaw angle without using magnetometer. PMID:26736958

A band-removal property employing microwave frequencies using complementary split ring resonators (CSRRs) is applied to design a compact UWB antenna wishing for the rejection of some frequency band, which is meanwhile exercised by the existing wireless applications. The reported antenna comprises optimization of a circular radiating patch, in which slotted complementary SRRs are implanted. It is printed on low dielectric FR4 substrate material fed by a partial ground plane and a microstrip line. Validated results exhibit that the reported antenna shows a wide bandwidth covering from 3.45 to more than 12 GHz, with a compact dimension of 22 × 26 mm2, and VSWR < 2, observing band elimination of 5.5 GHz WLAN band. PMID:24971379

A band-removal property employing microwave frequencies using complementary split ring resonators (CSRRs) is applied to design a compact UWB antenna wishing for the rejection of some frequency band, which is meanwhile exercised by the existing wireless applications. The reported antenna comprises optimization of a circular radiating patch, in which slotted complementary SRRs are implanted. It is printed on low dielectric FR4 substrate material fed by a partial ground plane and a microstrip line. Validated results exhibit that the reported antenna shows a wide bandwidth covering from 3.45 to more than 12 GHz, with a compact dimension of 22 × 26 mm(2), and VSWR < 2, observing band elimination of 5.5 GHz WLAN band. PMID:24971379

In this paper, a 64 state soft decision Viterbi Decoder (VD) system by using a high speed radix-4 Add Compare Select (ACS) architecture is presented. The proposed VD system can support different data rate (from 53.5 Mbps to 480 Mbps) for Multiband Orthogonal Frequency-division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM) Ultra-Wideband (UWB) system when implemented onto the FPGA board. The proposed VD employs efficient two steps Radix 4 architecture, which is responsible of calculating two steps of 64 state Radix 4 Branch Metrics (BM) within one clock cycle. The branch metrics are calculated using a uniform distance measurement algorithm, which equals to the symbol itself when compared to logic-0 and equal to its one's complement when compared to logic-1. By employing the modified Modulo Normalization algorithm, it is possible to use only a 10- bit memory block to restore each of the 64 state metrics, with the advantage of avoiding errors caused by overflow during the updating process for state metrics, and simplifying the comparator circuit of the ACS unit. The Two Pointer Even Algorithm, which is considered to be very simple and more hardware-efficient than the register exchange algorithm, is used for tracing back the survivor sequence and output the decoded data stream. 3-bit soft decision input sequences are used for gathering the experimental results. The sampling frequency of the MBOFDM UWB system is 528 MHz, by using the proposed two steps Radix 4 VD architecture we can process 4 input signals in parallel within one clock cycle, therefore only 132 MHz operating frequency is needed for the proposed VD system. This will dramatically reduce the dynamic power consumption for hardware implementation. Final results of the implementation show that the proposed VD architecture can support a maximum working frequency of 152.5 MHz on Xilinx XUPV5-LX110T Evaluation Platform.

Radio JOVE is an education and outreach project intended to give students and other interested individuals hands-on experience in learning radio astronomy. They can do this through building a radio telescope from a relatively inexpensive kit that includes the parts for a receiver and an antenna as well as software for a computer chart recorder emulator (Radio Skypipe) and other reference materials

The amorphous-crystalline silicon heterojunction (SHJ) represents a new paradigm in crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaics (PV). To achieve the 27% efficiency target for SHJ PV, defects in the silicon heterointerface must be minimized by growing high-quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) onto the c-Si surfaces without deposition-related damage. Typically, a-Si:H is deposited using radio-frequency (RF) plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD), which in its conventional configuration directly exposes the c-Si growth surface to the ignited plasma. In this thesis, silicon heterostructures prepared by the grid-based triode RF PECVD method is investigated for the first time. The triode method allows for high-quality a-Si:H growth with the c-Si surfaces shielded from any potential plasma damage. Using a custom-built configurable PECVD facility, a systematic study was conducted and it was demonstrated that the triode method affords the preparation of a-Si:H with excellent bulk film quality and state-of-the-art passivation for c-Si surfaces. Using the triode method, an effective minority carrier lifetime (taueff) of 8.1 ms and an Auger-corrected surface recombination velocity (S) of 2.4 cm/s at an excess carrier density of 1015 cm-3 have been achieved for 1-2 ohm-cm n-type c-Si passivated with intrinsic a-Si:H. Further, using the triode method to deposit thin-layers of intrinsic and doped a-Si:H, a conventional SHJ solar cell structure was prepared and was found to exhibit an excellent implied Voc of 710 mV. Under all conditions scanned, samples prepared in the triode configuration showed improved passivation compared with samples prepared in the conventional diode configuration with the best triode prepared sample showing a nearly threefold increase in taueff and a twofold decrease in S compared with the best diode prepared sample. Furthermore, a-Si:H deposited using the triode method showed significantly improved bulk properties compared to diode

Radios today are evolving from awareness toward cognition. A software defined radio (SDR) provides the most capability for integrating autonomic decision making ability and allows the incremental evolution toward a cognitive radio. This cognitive radio technology will impact NASA space communications in areas such as spectrum utilization, interoperability, network operations, and radio resource management over a wide range of operating conditions. NASAs cognitive radio will build upon the infrastructure being developed by Space Telecommunication Radio System (STRS) SDR technology. This paper explores the feasibility of inserting cognitive capabilities in the NASA STRS architecture and the interfaces between the cognitive engine and the STRS radio. The STRS architecture defines methods that can inform the cognitive engine about the radio environment so that the cognitive engine can learn autonomously from experience, and take appropriate actions to adapt the radio operating characteristics and optimize performance.

We propose a method to realize frequency up-conversion of UWB monocycle pulse using pulsed-pump fiber optical parametric amplifier (OPA). The spectrum of the amplified signal contains many discrete frequency components which are separated by the modulation frequency of the pump. Each frequency components contain the same spectral information as that of the original signal. By selecting the first-order or higher-order frequency components of the amplified signal and beating in the photodetector, up-converted signal at different frequencies are obtained. We demonstrate frequency up-conversion of baseband UWB monocycle pulse from 3-GHz to 19-GHz in the experiment and frequency up-conversion of pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) signal from 3-GHz to 60-GHz in the simulation.

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), as part of a mission and customer funded exploratory program, has developed a new low-frequency, ultra-wideband (UWB) synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The radar is capable of penetrating enclosed areas (buildings) and generating SAR imagery. This supports the U.S. Army's need for intelligence on the configuration, content, and human presence inside these enclosed areas. The radar system is mounted on a ground based vehicle traveling along the road and is configured with an array of antennas pointing toward the enclosed areas of interest. This paper will describe an experiment conducted recently at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Maryland. In this paper we briefly describe the UWB SIRE radar and the test setup in the experiment. We will also describe the signal processing and the image techniques used to produce the SAR imagery. Finally, we will present SAR imagery of the building and its internal structure from different viewing directions.

This paper presents a complete, autonomous, wireless temperature sensor, fully encapsulated in a 10.6mm3 volume. The sensor includes solar energy harvesting with an integrated 2 μAh battery, optical receiver for programming, microcontroller and memory, 8GHz UWB transmitter, and miniaturized custom antennas with a wireless range of 7 meters. Full, stand-alone operation was demonstrated for the first time for a system of this size and functionality. PMID:26855848

In the case of through-the-wall localization of moving targets by ultra wideband (UWB) radars, there are applications in which handheld sensors equipped only with one transmitting and two receiving antennas are applied. Sometimes, the radar using such a small antenna array is not able to localize the target with the required accuracy. With a view to improve through-the-wall target localization, cooperative positioning based on a fusion of data retrieved from two independent radar systems can be used. In this paper, the novel method of the cooperative localization referred to as joining intersections of the ellipses is introduced. This method is based on a geometrical interpretation of target localization where the target position is estimated using a properly created cluster of the ellipse intersections representing potential positions of the target. The performance of the proposed method is compared with the direct calculation method and two alternative methods of cooperative localization using data obtained by measurements with the M-sequence UWB radars. The direct calculation method is applied for the target localization by particular radar systems. As alternative methods of cooperative localization, the arithmetic average of the target coordinates estimated by two single independent UWB radars and the Taylor series method is considered. PMID:24021968

We present results from the first 12 months of operation of Radio Galaxy Zoo, which upon completion will enable visual inspection of over 170 000 radio sources to determine the host galaxy of the radio emission and the radio morphology. Radio Galaxy Zoo uses 1.4 GHz radio images from both the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty Centimeters (FIRST) and the Australia Telescope Large Area Survey (ATLAS) in combination with mid-infrared images at 3.4 μm from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and at 3.6 μm from the Spitzer Space Telescope. We present the early analysis of the WISE mid-infrared colours of the host galaxies. For images in which there is >75 per cent consensus among the Radio Galaxy Zoo cross-identifications, the project participants are as effective as the science experts at identifying the host galaxies. The majority of the identified host galaxies reside in the mid-infrared colour space dominated by elliptical galaxies, quasi-stellar objects and luminous infrared radio galaxies. We also find a distinct population of Radio Galaxy Zoo host galaxies residing in a redder mid-infrared colour space consisting of star-forming galaxies and/or dust-enhanced non-star-forming galaxies consistent with a scenario of merger-driven active galactic nuclei (AGN) formation. The completion of the full Radio Galaxy Zoo project will measure the relative populations of these hosts as a function of radio morphology and power while providing an avenue for the identification of rare and extreme radio structures. Currently, we are investigating candidates for radio galaxies with extreme morphologies, such as giant radio galaxies, late-type host galaxies with extended radio emission and hybrid morphology radio sources.

A radio ranging device is described which utilizes a superregenerative oscillator having alternate sending and receiving phases with an intervening ranging interval between said phases, means for varying said ranging interval, means responsive to an on-range noise reduction condition for stopping said means for varying the ranging interval and indicating means coupled to the ranging interval varying means and calibrated in accordance with one-half the product of the ranging interval times the velocity of light whereby the range is indicated.

Radio JOVE is a hands-on educational activity that brings the radio sounds of the Sun, Jupiter, the Milky Way Galaxy, and terrestrial radio noise to students, teachers, and the general public. Participants may build a simple radio telescope kit, make scientific observations, and interact with professional radio observatories in real-time over the Internet. Our website (http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov) includes science information, construction manuals, observing guides, and education resources for teachers and students. Radio Jove is continually expanding its participants with over 1800 kits sold to more than 70 countries worldwide. Recently some of our most dedicated observers have upgraded their Radio Jove antennas to semi-professional observatories. We have spectrographs and wide band antennas, some with 8 MHz bandwidth and some with dual polarization capabilities. In an effort to add to the science literature, these observers are coordinating their efforts to pursue some basic questions about Jupiter’s radio emissions (radio source locations, spectral structure, long term changes, etc.). We can compare signal and ionosphere variations using the many Radio Jove observers at different locations. Observers are also working with members of the Long Wavelength Array Station 1 (LWA1) radio telescope to coordinate observations of Jupiter; Radio Jove is planning to make coordinated observations while the Juno Mission is active beginning in 2015. The Radio Jove program is overviewed, its hardware and software are highlighted, recent sample observations are shown, and we demonstrate that we are capable of real citizen science.

The principles and techniques of deep space radio tracking are described along with the uses of tracking data in navigation and radio science. Emphasis is placed on the measurement functions of radio tracking.

Soviet radio telescopes of different type and purpose are described, with particular emphasis on very long baseline interferometry. Soviet radio-astronomy studies of solar radio emission and the interplanetary medium are also discussed, with particular attention given to the investigation of the sun's supercorona and the interplanetary plasma.

Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm is an optimization algorithm based on the intelligent behavior of honey bee swarm. The ABC algorithm was developed to solve optimizing numerical problems and revealed premising results in processing time and solution quality. In ABC, a colony of artificial bees search for rich artificial food sources; the optimizing numerical problems are converted to the problem of finding the best parameter which minimizes an objective function. Then, the artificial bees randomly discover a population of initial solutions and then iteratively improve them by employing the behavior: moving towards better solutions by means of a neighbor search mechanism while abandoning poor solutions. In this paper, an efficient multiuser detector based on a suboptimal code mapping multiuser detector and artificial bee colony algorithm (SCM-ABC-MUD) is proposed and implemented in direct-sequence ultra-wideband (DS-UWB) systems under the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. The simulation results demonstrate that the BER and the near-far effect resistance performances of this proposed algorithm are quite close to those of the optimum multiuser detector (OMD) while its computational complexity is much lower than that of OMD. Furthermore, the BER performance of SCM-ABC-MUD is not sensitive to the number of active users and can obtain a large system capacity. PMID:23983638

The article deals with a fully monolithically integrated single-chip M-sequence-based UWB-radar sensor, its architecture, selected design aspects and first measurement results performed on wafer and with packaged IC modules. The discussed chip is equipped with one transmitter and two receivers. The IC was designed and manufactured in commercially available high-performance 0.25 μm SiGe BiCMOS technology (f t = 110 GHz). Due to the combination of fast digital and broadband analogue system blocks in one chip, special emphasis has been placed on the electrical isolation of these functional structures. The manufactured IC is enclosed in a low-cost QFN (quad flat-pack no-leads) package and mounted on a PCB permitting the creation of MIMO-sensor arrays by cascading a number of modules. In spite of its relatively high complexity, the sensor head features a compact design (chip size of 2 × 1 mm2, QFN package size 5 × 5 mm2) and moderate power consumption (below 1 W at -3 V supply). The assembled transceiver chip can handle signals in the frequency range from near DC up to 18 GHz. This leads to an impulse response (IRF) of FWHD ≈ 50 ps (full width at half duration).

A frequency synthesizer for the ultra-wide band (UWB) group #1 is proposed. The synthesizer uses a phase-locked loop (PLL) and single-sideband (SSB) mixers to generate the three center frequencies of the first band group by mixing 4224 MHz with ±264 MHz and 792 MHz, respectively. A novel multi-QSSB mixer is designed to combine the function of frequency selection and frequency conversion for low power and high linearity. The synthesizer is fabricated in Jazz 0.18-μm RF CMOS technology. The measured reference spur is as low as -69 dBc and the maximum spur is the LO leakage of -32 dBc. A low phase noise of -110 dBc/Hz @ 1 MHz offset and an integrated phase noise of 1.86° are achieved. The hopping time between different bands is less than 1.8 ns. The synthesizer consumes 30 mA from a 1.8 V supply.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are a major cause of deaths all over the world. Microwave radar can be an alternative sensor for heart diagnostics and monitoring in modern healthcare that aids early detection of CVD symptoms. In this paper measurements from a switch array radar system are presented. This UWB system operates below 3 GHz and does time-lapse imaging of the beating heart inside the human body. The array consists of eight fat dipole elements. With a switch system, every possible sequence of transmit/receive element pairs can be selected to build a radar image from the recordings. To make the radar waves penetrate the human tissue, the antenna array is placed in contact with the body. Removal of the direct signal leakage through the antennas and body surface are done by high-pass (HP) filtering of the data prior to image processing. To analyze the results, measurements of moving spheres in air and simulations are carried out. We see that removal of the direct signal introduces amplitude distortion in the images. In addition, the effect of small target motion between the collection times of data from the individual elements is analyzed. With low pulse repetition frequency (PRF) this motion will distort the image. By using data from real measurements of heart motion in simulations, we analyze how the PRF and the antenna geometry influence this distortions.

Radar systems for detection of human heartbeats have mostly been single-channel systems with limited spatial resolution. In this paper, a radar system for ultra-wideband (UWB) imaging of the human heart is presented. To make the radar waves penetrate the human tissue the antenna is placed very close to the body. The antenna is an array with eight elements, and an antenna switch system connects the radar to the individual elements in sequence to form an image. Successive images are used to build up time-lapse movies of the beating heart. Measurements on a human test subject are presented and the heart motion is estimated at different locations inside the body. The movies show rhythmic motion consistent with the beating heart, and the location and shape of the reflections correspond well with the expected response form the heart wall. The spatial dependent heart motion is compared to ECG recordings, and it is confirmed that heartbeat modulations are seen in the radar data. This work shows that radar imaging of the human heart may provide valuable information on the mechanical movement of the heart. PMID:25350945

In this paper, a kind of concentric split-ring slots structure is utilized to design a novel triple-band-notched UWB antenna. Firstly, a concentric split-ring slots structure that has a higher VSWR than that of a single slot at notch frequency is presented. What's more, the structure is very simple and feasible to obtain notched-band at different frequency by adjustment of the length of slot. Secondly, a triple-band-notched antenna, whose notched bands are at 3.52-3.81 GHz for WiMAX and 5.03-5.42 GHz and 5.73-56.17 GHz for WLAN, is designed by using this structure. At last, a compact size of 24 × 30 mm2 of the proposed antenna has been fabricated and measured and it is shown that the proposed antenna has a broadband matched impedance (3.05-14 GHz, VSWR < 2), relatively stable gain and good omnidirectional radiation patterns at low bands.

Implanted antennas for implant-to-air data communications must be composed of material compatible with biological tissues. We design single and dual-polarization antennas for wireless ultra-wideband neural recording systems using an inhomogeneous multi-layer model of the human head. Antennas made from flexible materials are more easily adapted to implantation; we investigate both flexible and rigid materials and examine performance trade-offs. The proposed antennas are designed to operate in a frequency range of 2-11 GHz (having S11 below -10 dB) covering both the 2.45 GHz (ISM) band and the 3.1-10.6 GHz UWB band. Measurements confirm simulation results showing flexible antennas have little performance degradation due to bending effects (in terms of impedance matching). Our miniaturized flexible antennas are 12 mm×12 mm and 10 mm×9 mm for single- and dual-polarizations, respectively. Finally, a comparison is made of four implantable antennas covering the 2-11 GHz range: 1) rigid, single polarization, 2) rigid, dual polarization, 3) flexible, single polarization and 4) flexible, dual polarization. In all cases a rigid antenna is used outside the body, with an appropriate polarization. Several advantages were confirmed for dual polarization antennas: 1) smaller size, 2) lower sensitivity to angular misalignments, and 3) higher fidelity. PMID:25794394

The major challenges for Ultra-wide Band (UWB) indoor ranging systems are the dense multipath and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) problems of the indoor environment. To precisely estimate the time of arrival (TOA) of the first path (FP) in such a poor environment, a novel approach of entropy-based TOA estimation and support vector machine (SVM) regression-based ranging error mitigation is proposed in this paper. The proposed method can estimate the TOA precisely by measuring the randomness of the received signals and mitigate the ranging error without the recognition of the channel conditions. The entropy is used to measure the randomness of the received signals and the FP can be determined by the decision of the sample which is followed by a great entropy decrease. The SVM regression is employed to perform the ranging-error mitigation by the modeling of the regressor between the characteristics of received signals and the ranging error. The presented numerical simulation results show that the proposed approach achieves significant performance improvements in the CM1 to CM4 channels of the IEEE 802.15.4a standard, as compared to conventional approaches. PMID:26007726

The major challenges for Ultra-wide Band (UWB) indoor ranging systems are the dense multipath and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) problems of the indoor environment. To precisely estimate the time of arrival (TOA) of the first path (FP) in such a poor environment, a novel approach of entropy-based TOA estimation and support vector machine (SVM) regression-based ranging error mitigation is proposed in this paper. The proposed method can estimate the TOA precisely by measuring the randomness of the received signals and mitigate the ranging error without the recognition of the channel conditions. The entropy is used to measure the randomness of the received signals and the FP can be determined by the decision of the sample which is followed by a great entropy decrease. The SVM regression is employed to perform the ranging-error mitigation by the modeling of the regressor between the characteristics of received signals and the ranging error. The presented numerical simulation results show that the proposed approach achieves significant performance improvements in the CM1 to CM4 channels of the IEEE 802.15.4a standard, as compared to conventional approaches. PMID:26007726

With multiple overlapped piconets, the IEEE 802.15.3 Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol uses a Parent/Child (P/C) or Parent/Neighbor (P/N) configuration to avoid inter-piconet interference. However, the throughput of a P/N or P/C configuration cannot exceed that of a single piconet. In the present paper we propose an efficient means of managing multiple piconets to cooperate with a Multi-Carrier Code Division Multiple Access (MC-CDMA) based UWB system. The proposed management approach uses an Intermediate Device (IDEV) to connect Piconet Coordinators (PNCs). A senior PNC adaptively arranges two simultaneous data transmission links with the proposed spreading matrices in each Channel Time Allocation (CTA) instead of a P/C or P/N configuration, which supports only a single link in each CTA. Simulation results demonstrate the proposed scheme can achieve a higher throughput with an acceptable compromise of link success probability in multiple overlapped piconets.

The design of a class of jitter-robust, Hermite polynomial-based, orthogonal pulses for ultra-wideband impulse radio (UWB-IR) communications systems is presented. A unified and exact closed-form expression of the auto- and cross-correlation functions of Hermite pulses is provided. Under the assumption that jitter values are sufficiently smaller than pulse widths, this formula is used to decompose jitter-shifted pulses over an orthonormal basis of the Hermite space. For any given jitter probability density function (pdf), the decomposition yields an equivalent distribution of [InlineEquation not available: see fulltext.]-by-[InlineEquation not available: see fulltext.] matrices which simplifies the convolutional jitter channel model onto a multiplicative matrix model. The design of jitter-robust orthogonal pulses is then transformed into a generalized eigendecomposition problem whose solution is obtained with a Jacobi-like simultaneous diagonalization algorithm applied over a subset of samples of the channel matrix distribution. Examples of the waveforms obtained with the proposed design and their improved auto- and cross-correlation functions are given. Simulation results are presented, which demonstrate the superior performance of a pulse-shape modulated (PSM-) UWB-IR system using the proposed pulses, over the same system using conventional orthogonal Hermite pulses, in jitter channels with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN).

Ultra-wideband (UWB) array signal processing has the distinct advantage in that it is possible to illuminate or focus on ''spots'' at distant points in space, as opposed to just illuminating or steering at certain directions for narrowband array processing. The term ''spotforming'' is used to emphasize the property that point-focusing techniques with UWB waveforms can be viewed as a generalization of the well-known narrowband beamforming techniques. Because methods in spotforming can lead to powerful applications for UWB systems, in this paper we derive, simulate and experimentally verify UWB spot size as a function of frequency, bandwidth and array aperture.

Ultra-wideband (UWB) array signal processing has the distinct advantage in that it is possible to illuminate or focus on ''spots'' at distant points in space, as opposed to just illuminating or steering at certain directions for narrowband array processing. The term ''spotforming'' is used to emphasize the property that point-focusing techniques with UWB waveforms can be viewed as a generalization of the well-known narrowband beamforming techniques. Because methods in spotforming can lead to powerful applications for UWB systems, in this paper we derive, simulate and experimentally verify UWB spot size as a function of frequency, bandwidth and array aperture.

This paper investigates the effect of the operation distance (i.e., practical use) between an antenna and a human body on wireless body area network (WBAN) channel path gain. Different use cases in WBAN on-external (ext) and on-on links with different antenna-body distances for ultra wideband (UWB) technology are considered. These studies are carried out with two types of planar UWB antennas in the vicinity of a real human body. Corresponding scenarios are repeated by computer simulations, and differences between these environs (i.e., challenges in the modelling of the measurement situation) are analysed and discussed. PMID:24109919

The objectives of this basic reference work for the radio amateur are to present radio theory and practice in terms of application and to reflect both the fundamentals and the rapidly-advancing technology of radio communications so that the radio amateur will have a guide to what is practical, meaningful, proven, and useful. Twenty-three chapters…

This journal issue focuses on the frequency spectrum used in radio communication and on the World Administrative Radio Conference, sponsored by the International Telecommunication Union, held in Geneva, Switzerland, in the fall of 1979. Articles describe the World Administrative Radio Conference as the most important radio communication conference…

We propose theoretically and demonstrate experimentally an optical architecture for flexible Ultra-Wideband pulse generation. It is based on an N-tap reconfigurable microwave photonic filter fed by a laser array by using phase inversion in a Mach-Zehnder modulator. Since a large number of positive and negative coefficients can be easily implemented, UWB pulses fitted to the FCC mask requirements can be generated. As an example, a four tap pulse generator is experimentally demonstrated which complies with the FCC regulation. The proposed pulse generator allows different pulse modulation formats since the amplitude, polarity and time delay of generated pulse is controlled. PMID:19333263

A radio frequency detection assembly is described and which includes a radio frequency detector which detects a radio frequency emission produced by a radio frequency emitter from a given location which is remote relative to the radio frequency detector; a location assembly electrically coupled with the radio frequency detector and which is operable to estimate the location of the radio frequency emitter from the radio frequency emission which has been received; and a radio frequency transmitter electrically coupled with the radio frequency detector and the location assembly, and which transmits a radio frequency signal which reports the presence of the radio frequency emitter.

Wireless communication amounts to encoding information onto physical observables carried by electromagnetic (EM) fields, radiating them into surrounding space, and detecting them remotely by an appropriate sensor connected to an informationdecoding receiver. Each observable is second order in the fields and fulfills a conservation law. In present-day radio only the EM linear momentum observable is fully exploited. A fundamental physical limitation of this observable, which represents the translational degrees of freedom of the charges (typically an oscillating current along a linear antenna) and the fields, is that it is single-mode. This means that a linear-momentum radio communication link comprising one transmitting and one receiving antenna, known as a single-input-single-output (SISO) link, can provide only one transmission channel per frequency (and polarization). In contrast, angular momentum, which represents the rotational degrees of freedom, is multi-mode, allowing an angular-momentum SISO link to accommodate an arbitrary number of independent transmission channels on one and the same frequency (and polarization). We describe the physical properties of EM angular momentum and how they can be exploited, discuss real-world experiments, and outline how the capacity of angular momentum links may be further enhanced by employing multi-port techniques, i.e., the angular momentum counterpart of linear-momentum multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO).

A novel scheme to simultaneously provide UWB, 60-GHz millimeter-wave (mmW), and baseband services over a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) passive optical network (PON) is proposed and demonstrated. In the proposed system, an OOK Gaussian pulse signal is modulated on the optical carrier and then converted to an OOK UWB impulse signal at an edge filter, a baseband signal and a 30-GHz signal are then modulated on the same optical carrier. By employing polarization multiplex technique, the UWB and baseband signal will have orthogonal polarization directions and the spectrum interference between the two signals is avoided. By suppressing the optical carrier, a frequencydoubled mmW signal at 60 GHz is generated by beating the two 1st order sidebands at a photodetector (PD). Error-free transmission of a UWB signal at 2.5 Gbps and a wired baseband signal at 2.5 and 5 Gbps over a 25-km single-mode fiber (SMF) is achieved. A frequency-doubled mmW signal at 60 GHz is also obtained.

A coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed circular slot antenna with wide tunable dual band-notched function and frequency reconfigurable characteristic is designed, and its performance is verified experimentally for ultra-wideband (UWB) communication applications. The dual band-notched function is achieved by using a T-shaped stepped impedance resonator (T-SIR) inserted inside the circular ring radiation patch and by etching a parallel stub loaded resonator (PSLR) in the CPW transmission line, while the wide tunable bands can be implemented by adjusting the dimensions of the T-SIR and the PSLR. The notch band reconfigurable characteristic is realized by integrating three switches into the T-SIR and the PSLR. The numerical and experimental results show that the proposed antenna has a wide bandwidth ranging from 2.7 GHz to 12 GHz with voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) less than 2, except for the two notch bands operating at 3.8–5.9 GHz and 7.7–9.2 GHz, respectively. In addition, the proposed antenna has been optimized to a compact size and can provide omnidirectional radiation patterns, which are suitable for UWB communication applications. PMID:24222733

This paper presents an LC voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) in a dual-band frequency synthesizer for IMT-advanced and UWB applications. The switched current source, cross-coupled pair and noise filtering technique are adopted in this VCO design to improve the performance of the phase noise, power consumption, voltage amplitude, and tuning range. In order to achieve a wide tuning range, a reconfigurable LC tank with 4 bits switch control is adopted in the core circuit design. The size of the entire chip with pad is 1.11 × 0.98 mm2. The test results show that the current dissipation of the VCO at UWB and IMT-Advanced band is 3 mA and 4.5 mA in a 1.2 V supply. The tuning range of the designed VCO is 3.86-5.28 GHz and 3.14-3.88 GHz. The phase-noise at 1 MHz frequency offset from a 3.5 GHz and 4.2 GHz carrier is -123 dBc/Hz and -119 dBc/Hz, respectively.

An improved radio frequency coaxial transmission line vacuum feed-through provided based on the use of a half-wavelength annular dielectric pressure barrier disk, or multiple disks comprising an effective half wavelength structure to eliminate reflections from the barrier surfaces. Gas-tight seals are formed about the outer and inner diameter surfaces of the barrier disk using a sealing technique which generates radial forces sufficient to form seals by forcing the conductor walls against the surfaces of the barrier disks in a manner which does not deform the radii of the inner and outer conductors, thereby preventing enhancement of the electric field at the barrier faces which limits voltage and power handling capabilities of a feedthrough.

Certain Jovian radio emissions seem to be triggered from outside, by much weaker radio waves from the sun. Recently found in the Voyager observations near Jupiter, such triggering occurs at hectometric wavelengths during the arrival of solar radio bursts, with the triggered emissions lasting sometimes more than an hour as they slowly drifted toward higher frequencies. Like the previous discovery of similar triggered emissions at the earth, this suggests that Jupiter's emissions might also originate from natural radio lasers.

Compares the day-to-day work routines of commercial radio with the principles of a theoretical communication model. Illuminates peculiarities of the conduct of communication by commercial radio. Discusses the application of theoretical models to the evaluation of practicing institutions. Offers assessments of commercial radio deriving from…

Discusses new problems arising from the growing observational data through radio telescope arrays, involving the origin of radio sources, apparent superluminal velocities, conversion of radio sources to relativistic particles, and the nature of compact opaque and extended transparent sources. New physics may be needed to answer these cosmological…

Several prototype ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse-radio (IR) tracking systems are currently under development at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). These systems are being studied for use in tracking of Lunar/Mars rovers and astronauts during early exploration missions when satellite navigation systems (such as GPS) are not available. To date, the systems that have been designed and tested are intended only for two-dimensional location and tracking, but these designs can all be extended to three-dimensional tracking with only minor modifications and increases in complexity. In this presentation, we will briefly review the design and performance of two of the current 2-D systems: one designed specifically for short-range, extremely high-precision tracking (approximately 1-2 cm resolution) and the other designed specifically for much longer range tracking with less stringent precision requirements (1-2 m resolution). We will then discuss a new multi-purpose system design based on a simple UWB-IR architecture that can be deployed easily on a planetary surface to support arbitrary three-dimensional localization and tracking applications. We will discuss utilization of this system as an infrastructure to provide both short-range and long-range tracking and analyze the localization performance of the system in several different configurations. We will give theoretical performance bounds for some canonical system configurations and compare these performance bounds with both numerical simulations of the system as well as actual experimental system performance evaluations.

Highlights: •Parg{sup −/−} ES cells were more sensitive to γ-irradiation than Parp-1{sup −/−} ES cells. •Parg{sup −/−} cells were more sensitive to carbon-ion irradiation than Parp-1{sup −/−} cells. •Parg{sup −/−} cells showed defects in DSB repair after carbon-ion irradiation. •PAR accumulation was enhanced after carbon-ion irradiation compared to γ-irradiation. -- Abstract: Poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase (Parg) is the main enzyme involved in poly(ADP-ribose) degradation. Here, the effects of Parg deficiency on sensitivity to low and high linear-energy-transfer (LET) radiation were investigated in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. Mouse Parg{sup −/−} and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 deficient (Parp-1{sup −/−}) ES cells were used and responses to low and high LET radiation were assessed by clonogenic survival and biochemical and biological analysis methods. Parg{sup −/−} cells were more sensitive to γ-irradiation than Parp-1{sup −/−} cells. Transient accumulation of poly(ADP-ribose) was enhanced in Parg{sup −/−} cells. Augmented levels of phosphorylated H2AX (γ-H2AX) from early phase were observed in Parg{sup −/−} ES cells. The induction level of p53 phophorylation at ser18 was similar in wild-type and Parp-1{sup −/−} cells and apoptotic cell death process was mainly observed in the both genotypes. These results suggested that the enhanced sensitivity of Parg{sup −/−} ES cells to γ-irradiation involved defective repair of DNA double strand breaks. The effects of Parg and Parp-1 deficiency on the ES cell response to carbon-ion irradiation (LET13 and 70 keV/μm) and Fe-ion irradiation (200 keV/μm) were also examined. Parg{sup −/−} cells were more sensitive to LET 70 keV/μm carbon-ion irradiation than Parp-1{sup −/−} cells. Enhanced apoptotic cell death also accompanied augmented levels of γ-H2AX in a biphasic manner peaked at 1 and 24 h. The induction level of p53 phophorylation at ser18 was

This paper describes a plasma-diagnostic method using an enhancement factor on the Boltzmann distribution among emission lines of iron atom in an argon radio-frequency inductively-coupled plasma (ICP). It indicated that Boltzmann plots of the atomic lines having lower excitation energies (3.4 to 4.8 eV) were well fitted on a straight line while those having more than 5.5 eV deviated upwards from a linear relationship. This observation could be explained by the fact that ICP is not in a complete thermodynamic equilibrium between direct excitation to energy levels of iron atom, ionization of iron atom, and radiative decay processes to the ground state. Especially, the recombination of iron ion with captured electron should accompany cascade de-excitations between closely-spaced excited levels just below the ionization limit, the rates of which become slower as a whole; as a result, these high-lying levels might be more populated than the low-lying levels as if a different LTE condition coexists on the high energy side. This overpopulation could be quantitatively estimated using an enhancement factor (EF), which was a ratio of the observed intensity to the expected value extrapolated from the normal distribution on the low energy side. The EFs were generally small (less than 3); therefore, the cascade de-excitation process would slightly contribute to the population of these excited levels. It could be considered from variations of the EF that the overpopulation proceeded to a larger extent at lower radio-frequency forward powers, at higher flow rates of the carrier gas, or at higher observation heights. The reason for this is that the kinetic energy of energetic particles, such as electrons, becomes reduced under all of these plasma conditions, thus enabling the high-lying levels to be more populated by cascade de-excitation processes from iron ion rather than by collisional excitation processes with the energetic particles. A similar Boltzmann analysis using the EF

Wireless body area network (WBAN) is a new enabling system with promising applications in areas such as remote health monitoring and interpersonal communication. Reliable and optimum design of a WBAN system relies on a good understanding and in-depth studies of the wave propagation around a human body. However, the human body is a very complex structure and is computationally demanding to model. This paper aims to investigate the effects of the numerical model's structure complexity and feature details on the simulation results. Depending on the application, a simplified numerical model that meets desired simulation accuracy can be employed for efficient simulations. Measurements of ultra wideband (UWB) signal propagation along a human arm are performed and compared to the simulation results obtained with numerical arm models of different complexity levels. The influence of the arm shape and size, as well as tissue composition and complexity is investigated. PMID:21062677

The complex nature of the Uranus radio emissions, both magnetospheric and atmospheric, is reviewed, with emphasis on the identification of distinct components and the determination of their source locations. Seven radii components were discovered in addition to the RF signature of lightning in the planet's atmosphere. Six of the seven magnetospheric components are freely propagating emissions; one component, the nonthermal continuum, is trapped in the density cavity between the magnetopause and the dense inner magnetosphere. The radio components are divided into two types according to their emission signature: bursty emission and smooth emission. The inferred source location for the dominant nightside emission is above the nightside magnetic pole, largely overlapping the UV auroral region and the magnetic polar cap. The N-burst component appears to be associated with solar-wind enhancements at Uranus, consistent with the idea that the solar wind was triggering magnetospheric substormlike activity during the encounter.

Sprites are composed of individual streamer discharges (e.g., Pasko, 2010) which split into streamer tips (McHarg et al., 2010) with diameters 50-100 m at 60-80 km height (Kanmae et al., 2012). The sprite luminosity coincides in time and space with extremely low frequency electromagnetic radiation <3 kHz in excellent agreement with theory (Cummer and Fullekrug, 2001). This theory is based on current flowing in the body of sprites at 70-80 km height associated with large streamer densities (Pasko et al., 1998). A more detailed study shows specifically that the exponential growth and splitting of streamers at 70-80 km height results in an electron multiplication associated with the acceleration of electrons to a few eV. The accelerated electrons radiate a small amount of electromagnetic energy and the incoherent superposition of many streamers causes the observed electromagnetic radiation (Qin et al., 2012). It has been predicted that this newly recognized physical mechanism might also result in low frequency ( 30-300 kHz) electromagnetic radiation emanating from sprite streamers near 40 km height in the stratosphere, albeit with very small magnetic fields 10^{-17}-10^{-12} T from a single streamer (Qin et al., 2012). The presence of this predicted radiation was promptly confirmed by low frequency radio noise measurements during dancing sprites with a very sensitive radio receiver (Fullekrug et al., 2013). Specifically, it was found that the sprite luminosity coincides with sudden enhancements of the radio noise. These initial observations are extended here with a more detailed analysis to study the spatial coherence of the radio noise recorded with a novel network of sensitive radio receivers deployed during field work in the summer 2013. This network of radio receivers is used to study the relationship between the radio noise and the sprite luminosity observed with video cameras. The sprite luminosity is inferred from video recordings by use of sophisticated image

Radio wave propagation of the decimetric and centimetric waves depends to a large extent on the boundary layer meteorological conditions which give rise to severe fadings, very often due to multipath propagation. Sodar is one of the inexpensive remote sensing techniques which can be employed to probe the boundary layer structure. In the paper a historical perspective has been given of the simultaneously conducted studies on radio waves and sodar at various places. The radio meteorological information needed for propagation studies has been clearly spelt out and conditions of a ray path especially in the presence of a ducting layer have been defined as giving rise to fading or signal enhancement conditions. Finally the potential of the sodar studies to obtain information about the boundary layer phenomena has been stressed, clearly spelling out the use of acoustic sounding in radio wave propagation studies.

The current understanding of the radio-emission characteristics of 'ordinary' main sequence stars as well as giants and supergiants is examined. Particular consideration is given to radio emission from supergiants, Young T Tauri stars, magnetic Ap stars, flare stars of UV Ceti type, Alpha Sco, and RS CVn objects. It is noted that the study of stellar radio emission is in its initial stage. Further progress in this area depends on successes in finding new radio sources, associated, for example, with magnetic stars, and on an intensified investigation of the frequency spectra and polarization of already-discovered radio stars. It is also noted that, although the current knowledge of solar physics can help in understanding stellar radio emission, models and ideas developed for solar conditions should not be mechanically transferred to other stars by a simple change in scale.

UWB (Ultra Wide-Band) pulse radar is a promising candidate for surveillance systems designed to prevent crimes and terror-related activities. The high-speed SEABED (Shape Estimation Algorithm based on BST and Extraction of Directly scattered waves) imaging algorithm, is used in the application of UWB pulse radar in fields that require realtime operations. The SEABED algorithm assumes that omni-directional antennas are scanned to observe the scattered electric field in each location. However, for surveillance systems, antenna scanning is impractical because it restricts the setting places of the devices. In this paper, movement of a body is used to replace antenna scanning. The instantaneous velocity of any given motion is an unknown variable that changes as a function of time. A pair of antennas is used to analyze delay time to estimate the unknown motion. We propose a new algorithm to estimate the shape of a human body using data obtained from a human body passing stationary antennas.

A novel and cost-efficient technique is presented to generate non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and ultra-wideband (UWB) signals in different time slots of time division multiplexing-passive optical network (TDM-PON) by using a single chirped controlled semiconductor laser associated with an optical bandpass filter. In this technique, the chirp of the laser is controlled by different bias burst amplitudes (BBA) for different time slots. Through the proper selection of the burst amplitudes, 10 Gbps NRZ and 1.25 Gbps UWB signals are generated in different time slots. Principle of operation is discussed, the complete chirp behavior of the laser is experimentally investigated, data transmission of the generated signals is demonstrated and bit-error-rate (BER) level of 10-9 is achieved. PMID:27464153

Looking for an Internet radio station focusing on programing about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)? The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced on 26 September the launch of Science360 Radio, which it says is the first Internet radio stream dedicated to STEM programing. Science360 includes more than 100 radio shows and podcasts that are available on the Web as well as on iPhone and Android devices. The shows originate from a variety of sources, including NSF, other U.S. government agencies, science organizations, universities, and media outlets. For more information, see http://science360.gov/files/.

Radio frequency heating (RFH) is a process that uses electromagnetic energy generated by radio waves to heat soil in situ, thereby potentially enhancing the performance of standard soil vapor extraction (SVE) technologies. An RFH system developed by the IIT Research Institute ...

Radio frequency heating (RFH) is a process that uses electromagnetic energy in the radio frequency (RF) band to heat soil in situ, thereby potentially enhancing the performance of standard soil vapor extraction (SVE) technologies. An RFH system developed by KAI Technologies, I...

Enron has used such wireless systems as meteor burst radio, 952 MHz multiple address radio, VSAT and L-band satellite, cellular radio and ACSB radio. The company's experience with meteor burst radio communications is discussed in this paper. It indicates good system reliability and consequently all back-up telephone lines have been removed from sites using this system.

We present high angular resolution observations of the HCN(1-0) emission (at ~1'' or ~34 pc), together with CO J = 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 observations, toward the Seyfert 2 nucleus of M51 (NGC 5194). The overall HCN(1-0) distribution and kinematics are very similar to that of the CO lines, which have been indicated as the jet-entrained molecular gas in our past observations. In addition, high HCN(1-0)/CO(1-0) brightness temperature ratio of about unity is observed along the jets, similar to that observed at the shocked molecular gas in our Galaxy. These results strongly indicate that both diffuse and dense gases are entrained by the jets and outflowing from the active galactic nucleus. The channel map of HCN(1-0) at the systemic velocity shows a strong emission right at the nucleus, where no obvious emission has been detected in the CO lines. The HCN(1-0)/CO(1-0) brightness temperature ratio at this region reaches >2, a value that cannot be explained considering standard physical/chemical conditions. Based on our calculations, we suggest infrared pumping and possibly weak HCN masing, but still requiring an enhanced HCN abundance for the cause of this high ratio. This suggests the presence of a compact dense obscuring molecular gas in front of the nucleus of M51, which remains unresolved at our ~1'' (~34 pc) resolution, and consistent with the Seyfert 2 classification picture.

We present polyethylene oxide (PEO) functional films polymerized by rf plasma-enhanced vapour chemical deposition (rf-PECVD) on p-Si (100) surface with precursor ethylene glycol dimethyl ether (EGDME) and diluted Ar in pulsed plasma mode. The influences of discharge parameters on the film properties and compounds are investigated. The film structure is analysed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The water contact angle measurement and atomic force microscope (AFM) are employed to examine the surface polarity and to detect surface morphology, respectively. It is concluded that the smaller duty cycle in pulsed plasma mode contributes to the rich C-O-C (EO) group on the surfaces. As an application, the adsorption behaviour of platelet-rich plasma on plasma polymerization films performed in-vitro is explored. The shapes of attached cells are studied in detail by an optic invert microscope, which clarifies that high-density C-O-C groups on surfaces are responsible for non-fouling adsorption behaviour of the PEO films.

The radiosensitizing effect of wortmannin (WM) treatment during and after irradiation was studied in radioresistant bladder tumor cell lines with normal (MGH-U1 cells) or defective p53 activity (RT112 cells). WM modulated G(2)/M cell cycle arrest induced by higher X-ray doses (10 Gy) in both cell lines, although the alteration was significant only in RT112 cells. The observation suggests that WM activity is independent of p53. Constitutive expression of DNA-PKcs was found to be higher in RT112 cells than in MGH-U1. Treatment with WM enhanced radiation-induced apoptosis significantly in RT112 cells while it had no effect on MGH-U1 cells. Although a variety of PI3-kinases and PI3-K like kinases (including ATM) could be inhibited by WM, our observation of increased early lethality by WM treatment in RT112 is in agreement with previous results. They suggest that the WM-dependent radiosensitization of RT112 is a direct consequence of the inhibition of DNA-PK, resulting in the inhibition of DSB repair in the fast component. This early effect in the p53 deficient cell line could also indicate that processes other than apoptosis may contribute to the increased radiosensitization. In our opinion, the expression level of DNA-PKcs in human tumor cells may be a good predictor for the success of DNA-PKcs inhibitors when used as radiosensitizers. PMID:18787832

We present high angular resolution observations of the HCN(1-0) emission (at ∼1'' or ∼34 pc), together with CO J = 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 observations, toward the Seyfert 2 nucleus of M51 (NGC 5194). The overall HCN(1-0) distribution and kinematics are very similar to that of the CO lines, which have been indicated as the jet-entrained molecular gas in our past observations. In addition, high HCN(1-0)/CO(1-0) brightness temperature ratio of about unity is observed along the jets, similar to that observed at the shocked molecular gas in our Galaxy. These results strongly indicate that both diffuse and dense gases are entrained by the jets and outflowing from the active galactic nucleus. The channel map of HCN(1-0) at the systemic velocity shows a strong emission right at the nucleus, where no obvious emission has been detected in the CO lines. The HCN(1-0)/CO(1-0) brightness temperature ratio at this region reaches >2, a value that cannot be explained considering standard physical/chemical conditions. Based on our calculations, we suggest infrared pumping and possibly weak HCN masing, but still requiring an enhanced HCN abundance for the cause of this high ratio. This suggests the presence of a compact dense obscuring molecular gas in front of the nucleus of M51, which remains unresolved at our ∼1'' (∼34 pc) resolution, and consistent with the Seyfert 2 classification picture.

Radio frequency interference (RFI) and radio astronomy have been closely linked since the emergence of radio astronomy as a scientific discipline in the 1930s. Even before the official establishment of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, protection against contemporary and future radio noise levels was seen as crucial to ensure success of any new observatory. My talk will examine the various local, regional, national, and international efforts enacted to protect NRAO and other American radio astronomy sites from RFI.

After outlining the qualities necessary in a good radio or television manager, the book describes his duties which fall in three major areas: programming, engineering, and sales. It discusses the relationship between the station and its audience in detail. Sections on radio and television programming describe the way most stations operate and…

This journal issue covers the history of film, radio, and television in Iowa. The first article, "When Pictures and Sound Came to Iowa," summarizes the origin of movies and radio and their early beginnings in Iowa. Using old photographs and measurement charts, the viewing, reading, and listening habits of young people in 1950 and 1958 are…

The Amateur Radio Satellite Communications project had, as its goal, the assembly of an amateur radio satellite station in a high school physics classroom. Specific objectives were to provide: (1) a special source of interest as a motivator for attracting students and building public relations; (2) a center of interest as a motivator for the study…

A long-vane stabilized radio frequency resonator for accelerating charged particles and including means defining a radio frequency resonator cavity, a plurality of long vanes mounted in the defining means for dividing the cavity into sections, and means interconnecting opposing ones of the plurality of vanes for stabilizing the resonator.

Disclosed is a long-vane stabilized radio frequency resonator for accelerating charged particles and including means defining a radio frequency resonator cavity, a plurality of long vanes mounted in the defining means for dividing the cavity into sections, and means interconnecting opposing ones of the plurality of vanes for stabilizing the resonator. 5 figs.

The Radio love Project is a hands-on education and outreach project in which students, or any other interested individuals or groups build a radio telescope from a kit, operate the radio telescope, transmit the resulting signals through the internet if desired, analyze the results, and share the results with others through archives or general discussions among the observers. Radio love is intended to provide an introduction to radio astronomy for the observer. The equipment allows the user to observe radio signals from Jupiter, the Sun, the galaxy, and Earth-based radiation both natural and man-made. The project was started through a NASA Director's Discretionary Fund grant more than ten years ago. it has continued to be carried out through the dedicated efforts of a group of mainly volunteers. Dearly 1500 kits have been distributed throughout the world. Participation can also be done without building a kit. Pre-built kits are available. Users can also monitor remote radio telescopes through the internet using free downloadable software available through the radiosky.com website. There have been many stories of prize-winning projects, inspirational results, collaborative efforts, etc. We continue to build the community of observers and are always open to new thoughts about how to inspire the observers to still greater involvement in the science and technology associated with Radio Jove.

This handbook expounds the theory of optical and radio rangefinders and radiogeodesic systems. Particular attention is given to instrument design, investigations using geodesic phase rangefinders, ranging errors, and the effect of meteorological factors in the atmospheric surface layer. Applications of optical and radio rangefinders are considered, including the establishment of geodetic networks and the assessment of the accuracy of triangulation networks.

Simulators used for total training and evaluation of airline pilots must satisfy stringent criteria in order to assure their adequacy for training and checking maneuvers. Air traffic control and company radio communications simulation, however, may still be left to role-play by the already taxed instructor/evaluators in spite of their central importance in every aspect of the flight environment. The underlying premise of this research is that providing a realistic radio communications environment would increase safety by enhancing pilot training and evaluation. This report summarizes the first-year efforts of assessing the requirement and feasibility of simulating radio communications automatically. A review of the training and crew resource/task management literature showed both practical and theoretical support for the need for realistic radio communications simulation. A survey of 29 instructor/evaluators from 14 airlines revealed that radio communications are mainly role-played by the instructor/evaluators. This increases instructor/evaluators' own workload while unrealistically lowering pilot communications load compared to actual operations, with a concomitant loss in training/evaluation effectiveness. A technology review searching for an automated means of providing radio communications to and from aircraft with minimal human effort showed that while promising, the technology is still immature. Further research and the need for establishing a proof-of-concept are also discussed.

Both the Earth's auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) and Jupiter's decametric radio S-bursts are attributed to natural radio lasing. Presumably consisting of self-excited, closed-loop wave feedback oscillations between local irregularities of the source plasma density, this radio lasing is comparable to that which occurs in man-made optical lasers, although at radio, rather than optical wavelengths. As a result, it should produce a multiple discrete emission spectrum and intense, coherent beams. Recent observations of the AKR's discreteness and coherence have clearly ruled out the previous open-loop amplifier model for such emissions, and recent observations of the Jovian S-bursts have shown the expected, regularly-spaced, longitudinal laser modes. These new observations thus confirm the proposed planetary cyclotron radio lasing at both planets.

We investigate radio emission efficiency, ξ, of pulsars and report a near-linear inverse correlation between ξ and the spin-down power, E-dot , as well as a near-linear correlation between ξ and pulsar age, τ. This is a consequence of very weak, if any, dependences of radio luminosity, L, on pulsar period, P, and the period derivative, P-dot , in contrast to X-ray or γ-ray emission luminosities. The analysis of radio fluxes suggests that these correlations are not due to a selection effect, but are intrinsic to the pulsar radio emission physics. We have found that, although with a large variance, the radio luminosity of pulsars is ≈10{sup 29} erg s{sup –1}, regardless of the position in the P-- P-dot diagram. Within such a picture, a model-independent statement can be made that the death line of radio pulsars corresponds to an upper limit in the efficiency of radio emission. If we introduce the maximum value for radio efficiency into the Monte Carlo-based population syntheses we can reproduce the observed sample using the random luminosity model. Using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test on a synthetic flux distribution reveals a high probability of reproducing the observed distribution. Our results suggest that the plasma responsible for generating radio emission is produced under similar conditions regardless of pulsar age, dipolar magnetic field strength, and spin-down rate. The magnetic fields near the pulsar surface are likely dominated by crust-anchored, magnetic anomalies, which do not significantly differ among pulsars, leading to similar conditions for generating electron-positron pairs necessary to power radio emission.

Amateur radio is a technology and activity that offers great potential when integrated into academic or vocational curricula. Programs with electrical, electronics, and electromechanical content can benefit from the use of amateur radio, and can also enhance language and communications skills. The biggest value of amateur radio may lie in its…

I review the results of three Spitzer studies of GHz-Peaked Spectrum (GPS) and Compact Steep Spectrum (CSS) radio galaxies. The luminosity of the IR continuum and the high ionization lines confirm that some GPS/CSS can have central engines which are similar to those of the extended powerful radio sources. This is consistent with the hypothesis that some GPS/CSS can evolve to become the large-scale sources. Warm H_2 is common in the GPS/CSS sources consistent with feedback via jet-ISM interaction. The GPS/CSS seem to have higher star formation rates than typical (2JY + 3CRR) radio sources. This should be confirmed with a larger sample. If compact sources interact with dense, clumpy star forming clouds and if the interaction with the dense medium sufficiently enhances the radio power, these star forming galaxies with enhancedradio emission will be selected for the current bright samples of GPS and CSS sources. This will increase the number of GPS and CSS sources which are observed to be forming stars. If radio sources have longer lives and/or star formation is more common in large radio galaxies, the need for a new population of star forming compact sources with enhancedradio emission is reduced.

Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology has proven to be useful in short range, high data rate, robust, and low power communications. These features can make UWB systems ideal candidates for reliable data communications between nodes of a wireless sensor network (WSN). However, the low powered UWB pulses can be significantly degraded by channel noise, inter-node interference, and intentional jamming. In this paper we present a novel interference suppression technique for UWB based WSNs that promises self-organization in terms of power conservation, scalability, and channel estimation for the entire distributed network.

Market areas offering potential for future narrowband broadcast satellites are examined, including international public diplomacy, government- and advertising-supported, and business-application usages. Technical issues such as frequency allocation, spacecraft types, transmission parameters, and radio receiver characteristics are outlined. Service and system requirements, advertising revenue, and business communications services are among the economic issues discussed. The institutional framework required to provide an operational radio broadcast service is studied, and new initiatives in direct broadcast audio radio systems, encompassing studies, tests, in-orbit demonstrations of, and proposals for national and international commercial broadcast services are considered.

This tutorial on packet radio (communication system using radio and digital packet-switching technology) highlights radio transmission of data, brief history, special considerations in applying packet radio to library online catalogs, technology, defining protocol at physical and network levels, security, geographic coverage, and components. (A…

Wireless sensor networks for industrial communication require high reliability and low latency. As current wireless sensor networks do not entirely meet these requirements, novel system approaches need to be developed. Since ultra wideband communication systems seem to be a promising approach, this paper evaluates the performance of the IEEE 802.15.4 impulse-radio ultra-wideband physical layer and the IEEE 802.15.4 Low Latency Deterministic Network (LLDN) MAC for industrial applications. Novel approaches and system adaptions are proposed to meet the application requirements. In this regard, a synchronization approach based on circular average magnitude difference functions (CAMDF) and on a clean template (CT) is presented for the correlation receiver. An adapted MAC protocol titled aggregated low latency (ALL) MAC is proposed to significantly reduce the resulting latency. Based on the system proposals, a hardware prototype has been developed, which proves the feasibility of the system and visualizes the real-time performance of the MAC protocol.

A secondary geology class used Eratosthenes' method for measuring the circumference of the earth by comparing their measurements of the shadow of a vertical rod to the measurements made by another person contacted by ham radio. (MLH)

Radio JOVE is an interactive educational activity which brings the radio sounds of Jupiter and the Sun to students, teachers, and the general public. This is accomplished through the construction of a simple radio telescope kit and the use of a real-time radio observatory on the Internet. Our website (http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/) will contain science information, instruction manuals, observing guides, and education resources for students and teachers. Our target audience is high school science classes, but subjects can be tailored to college undergraduate physics and astronomy courses or even to middle school science classes. The goals of the project are: 1) Educate people about planetary and solar radio astronomy, space physics, and the scientific method 2) Provide teachers and students with a hands-on radio astronomy exercise as a science curriculum support activity by building and using a simple radio telescope receiver/antenna kit 3) Create the first ever online radio observatory which provides real-time data for those with internet access 4) Allow interactions among participating schools by facilitating exchanges of ideas, data, and observing experiences. Our current funding will allow us to impact 100 schools by partially subsidizing their participation in the program. We expect to expand well beyond this number as publicity and general interest increase. Additional schools are welcome to fully participate, but we will not be able to subsidize their kit purchases. We hope to make a wide impact among the schools by advertising through appropriate newsletters, space grant consortia, the INSPIRE project (http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/inspire/), electronic links, and science and education meetings. We would like to acknoledge support from the NASA/GSFC Director's Discretionary Fund, the STScI IDEAS grant program and the NASA/GSFC Space Science Data Operations Office.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) conceives the radio spectrum as primarily a resource for telecommunications. Indeed most applications of radio are for communications and other radio services, particularly the Radio Astronomy Service, are deemed to be `pretend'communication serviceas for spectrum amnagement purposes. The language of Radio Spectrum Management is permeated by the terminology ofcommunications, some derived from the physics of radio and some from aspects of information theory. This contribution touches on all the essential concepts of radiocommunications which the author thinks should be the common mental equipment of the Spectrum Manager. The fundamental capacity of a communication channel is discussed in terms of the degrees of freedom and bandwidth of a signal, and the signal to noise ratio. It is emphasized that an information bearing signal is inherently unpredictable, and must, at some level, be discontinuous. This has important consequences for the form of its power spectrum. The effect of inserting filters is discussed particularly with regard to constant amplitude signals and, in the context of non-linear power amplifiers, the phenomenon of`sideband recovery'. All the common generic forms of modulation are discussed including the very different case of `no-modulation' which applies in all forms of passive remote sensing. Whilst all are agreed that the radio spectrum should be used `efficiently', there is no quantitative measure of spectral efficiency which embraces all relevant aspects of spectral usage. These various aspects are dicussed. Finally a brief outline of some aspects of antennae are reviewed. It is pointed out that the recent introduction of so-called `active antennnae', which have properties unlike traditional passive antennae, has confused the interpretation of those ITU Radio Regulations which refer to antennae.

The Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) is a high-energy cosmic neutrino detector constructed with stations of radio antennas buried in the ice at the South Pole. Event reconstruction relies on the analysis of the arrival times of the transient radio signals generated by neutrinos interacting within a few kilometers of the detector. Because of its depth dependence, the index of refraction in the ice complicates the interferometric directional reconstruction of possible neutrino events. Currently, there is an ongoing endeavor to enhance the programs used for the time-consuming computations of the curved paths of the transient wave signals in the ice as well as the interferometric beamforming. We have implemented a fast, multi-dimensional spline table lookup of the wave arrival times in order to enable raytrace-based directional reconstructions. Additionally, we have applied parallel computing across multiple Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) in order to perform the beamforming calculations quickly.

In this paper, the decision-level data fusion techniques are extended to the multiuser detection (MUD) field. Then two novel MUD algorithms, that is the chairman arbitrating decision-level fusion criterion (CA-DFC) based MUD algorithm and the veto logic decision-level fusion criterion (VL-DFC) based MUD algorithm, are proposed for DS-UWB communication systems. In CA-DFC based method, the chairman can make his arbitration among the preliminary decisions from sub-optimal detectors by his own rule. In the VL-DFC based method, the undetermined bits in these preliminary decisions are considered to construct a simplified solution space, and then the chairman can make his final decision within this space. Simulation results demonstrate that the performances of CA-DFC and VL-DFC based MUD algorithms are superior to those of other sub-optimal MUD algorithms, and even close to that of OMD. Moreover, both of these proposed algorithms have lower computational complexity than OMD, which reveals their efficiency. Compared with CA-DFC, VL-DFC based algorithm achieves a little improvement in its performance, at the cost of the increment in its computational complexity. Thus, they can be applied to different practical situations. PMID:26404273

To overcome the unbalanced error bit distribution among subcarriers caused by inter-subcarriers mixing interference (ISMI) and frequency selective fading (FSF), an adaptive modulation scheme based on 64/16/4QAM modulation is proposed and experimentally investigated in the intensity-modulation direct-detection (IM/DD) multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM) ultra-wideband (UWB) over fiber system. After 50 km standard single mode fiber (SSMF) transmission, at the bit error ratio (BER) of 1×10-3, the experimental results show that the power penalty of the IM/DD MB-OFDM UWBoF system with 64/16/4QAM adaptive modulation scheme is about 3.6 dB, compared to that with the 64QAM modulation scheme. Moreover, the receiver sensitivity has been improved about 0.52 dB when the intra-symbol frequency-domain averaging (ISFA) algorithm is employed in the IM/DD MB-OFDM UWBoF system based on the 64/16/4QAM adaptive modulation scheme. Meanwhile, after 50 km SSMF transmission, there is a negligible power penalty in the adaptively modulated IM/DD MB-OFDM UWBoF system, compared to the optical back-to-back case.

An overview is presented of a number of astrometry and astrophysics programs based on radio sources from the Parkes 2.7 GHz catalogs. The programs cover the optical identification and spectroscopy of flat-spectrum Parkes sources and the determination of their milliarcsecond radio structures and positions. Work is also in progress to tie together the radio and Hipparcos positional reference frames. A parallel program of radio and optical astrometry of southern radio stars is also under way.

Cognitive Radio will revolutionize American transportation. Through smart technology, it will anticipate user needs; detect available bandwidths and frequencies then seamlessly connect vehicles, infrastructures, and consumer devices; and it will support the Department of Transportation IntelliDrive Program, helping researchers, auto manufacturers, and Federal and State officials advance the connectivity of US transportation systems for improved safety, mobility, and environmental conditions. Using cognitive radio, a commercial vehicle will know its driver, onboard freight and destination route. Drivers will save time and resources communicating with automatic toll booths and know ahead of time whether to stop at a weigh station or keep rolling. At accident scenes, cognitive radio sensors on freight and transportation modes can alert emergency personnel and measure on-site, real-time conditions such as a chemical leak. The sensors will connect freight to industry, relaying shipment conditions and new delivery schedules. For industry or military purposes, cognitive radio will enable real-time freight tracking around the globe and its sensory technology can help prevent cargo theft or tampering by alerting shipper and receiver if freight is tampered with while en route. For the average consumer, a vehicle will tailor the transportation experience to the passenger such as delivering age-appropriate movies via satellite. Cognitive radio will enhance transportation safety by continually sensing what is important to the user adapting to its environment and incoming information, and proposing solutions that improve mobility and quality of life.

Cognitive Radio will revolutionize American transportation. Through smart technology, it will anticipate user needs; detect available bandwidths and frequencies then seamlessly connect vehicles, infrastructures, and consumer devices; and it will support the Department of Transportation IntelliDrive Program, helping researchers, auto manufacturers, and Federal and State officials advance the connectivity of US transportation systems for improved safety, mobility, and environmental conditions. Using cognitive radio, a commercial vehicle will know its driver, onboard freight and destination route. Drivers will save time and resources communicating with automatic toll booths and know ahead of time whether to stop at a weigh station or keep rolling. At accident scenes, cognitive radio sensors on freight and transportation modes can alert emergency personnel and measure on-site, real-time conditions such as a chemical leak. The sensors will connect freight to industry, relaying shipment conditions and new delivery schedules. For industry or military purposes, cognitive radio will enable real-time freight tracking around the globe and its sensory technology can help prevent cargo theft or tampering by alerting shipper and receiver if freight is tampered with while en route. For the average consumer, a vehicle will tailor the transportation experience to the passenger such as delivering age-appropriate movies via satellite. Cognitive radio will enhance transportation safety by continually sensing what is important to the user adapting to its environment and incoming information, and proposing solutions that improve mobility and quality of life.

Study of radio supernovae over the past 30 years includes more than three dozen detected objects and more than 150 upper limits. From this work it is possible to identify classes of radio properties, demonstrate conformance to and deviations from existing models, estimate the density and structure of the circumstellar material and, by inference, the evolution of the presupernova stellar wind, and reveal the last stages of stellar evolution before explosion. Along with reviewing these general properties of the radio emission from supernovae, we present our extensive observations of the radio emission from supernova (SN) 1993J in M 81 (NGC 3031) made with the Very Large Array and other radio telescopes. The SN 1993J radio emission evolves regularly in both time and frequency, and the usual interpretation in terms of shock interaction with a circumstellar medium (CSM) formed by a pre-supernova stellar wind describes the observations rather well considering the complexity of the phenomenon. However: 1) The highest frequency measurements at 85 - 110 GHz at early times (<40 days) are not well fitted by the parameterization which describes the cm wavelength measurements. 2) At a time ˜3100 days after shock breakout, the decline rate of the radio emission steepens from (t+beta ) beta ˜ -0.7 to beta ˜ -2.7 without change in the spectral index (nu +alpha ; alpha ˜ -0.81). This decline is best described not as a power-law, but as an exponential decay with an e-folding time of ˜ 1100 days. 3) The best overall fit to all of the data is a model including both non-thermal synchrotron self-absorption (SSA) and a thermal free-free absorbing (FFA) components at early times, evolving to a constant spectral index, optically thin decline rate, until a break in that decline rate at day ˜3100, as mentioned above.

The term "Educational Radio" includes all radio stations licensed for noncommercial operation. A history of educational radio begins with the first domestic law for control of radio in general, The Radio Act of 1912. Federal Communication Commission (FCC) regulations pertaining to educational radio or "public radio" deal with channel assignments,…

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), as part of a mission and customer funded exploratory program, has developed a new low-frequency, ultra-wideband (UWB) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for forward imaging to support the Army's vision of an autonomous navigation system for robotic ground vehicles. These unmanned vehicles, equipped with an array of imaging sensors, will be tasked to help detect man-made obstacles such as concealed targets, enemy minefields, and booby traps, as well as other natural obstacles such as ditches, and bodies of water. The ability of UWB radar technology to help detect concealed objects has been documented in the past and could provide an important obstacle avoidance capability for autonomous navigation systems, which would improve the speed and maneuverability of these vehicles and consequently increase the survivability of the U. S. forces on the battlefield. One of the primary features of the radar is the ability to collect and process data at combat pace in an affordable, compact, and lightweight package. To achieve this, the radar is based on the synchronous impulse reconstruction (SIRE) technique where several relatively slow and inexpensive analog-to-digital (A/D) converters are used to sample the wide bandwidth of the radar signals. We conducted an experiment this winter at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) to support the phenomenological studies of the backscatter from positive and negative obstacles for autonomous robotic vehicle navigation, as well as the detection of concealed targets of interest to the Army. In this paper, we briefly describe the UWB SIRE radar and the test setup in the experiment. We will also describe the signal processing and the forward imaging techniques used in the experiment. Finally, we will present imagery of man-made obstacles such as barriers, concertina wires, and mines.

The theory of double radio sources is considered from two different points of view: the so called unified models and the slingshot model. First, observations and theory are discussed in 11 areas: (1) the dependence or independence of small-scale and large-scale jets from each other; (2) stability and existence of large-scale jets; (3) radio hot spots inside the lobes of double radio sources; (4) the relation of double-lobed quasars to radio galaxies; (5) polarization and other asymmetries between the two lobes and correlations among them; (6) the speeds of advance of radio lobes; (7) giant radio sources; (8) one-sided double radio sources; (9) multiple-sided double radio sources; (10) the origin of the Fanaroff-Riley classes of radio morphology; and (11) the origin of distance asymmetries of the radio lobes. Then five steps in building up a double radio source theory are discussed: (1) theory of galaxy mergers; (2) theory of black hole mergers; (3) theory of black hole interactions and ejections; (4) theory of radio lobe formation and evolution; and (5) radio jet theory. Finally, recent X-ray observations by ROSAT are discussed from the point of view of double radio source theory.

More than ever modern astronomy is based upon a multi-wavelength approach combining data-sets from optical, infrared, radio, X-ray and gamma ray observatories to provide improved understanding of astrophysical phenomena. In the field of astronomy education however, until recently most teaching resources available to high schools have been limited to small optical telescopes, with little coverage of other branches of observational astronomy. To fill in this resource gap, PARI has developed the School of Galactic Radio Astronomy and the Smiley 4.6 m Radio Telescope to provide high schools access to a state-of-the-art, internet accessable radio observatory for class projects and activities. We describe here the development of the Smiley radio telescope, its control systems and give examples of several class activities which have been developed for use by high school students. We describe the future development of Smiley and plans to upgrade its performance. The SGRA has been supported by grants from Progress Energy, Z. Smith Reynolds, STScI IDEAS, and the AAS Small Research Grant Program which is supported by NASA.

Rotation-powered radio pulsars exhibit a remarkably diverse spectrum of variability with characteristic time scales from days and even years (intermittent pulsars) to minutes-seconds (nulling) and (sub-)microseconds. The latter time scales are associated with the phenomenon of giant pulses (GPs) and micropulses. The story of GPs started in 1968, when Staelin and Reifenstein discovered the Crab pulsar through its spectacularly bright radio pulses. To date, only seven pulsars out of more than 2200 are known to show GP emission, namely the pulsars B0531+21, B1937+21, B0540-69, B1821-24, B1957+20, J0218+4232, and B1820-30A. Giant pulses are characterized by large energies (more than ten times of the energy of the average pulse), short durations, power-law energy distribution, specific rotational phase of occurrence, high degree of polarization, and accompanying high-energy radiation. Large energies of GPs and coincidence of their phase of occurrence with peaks of high-energy profiles hint at the same mechanism of radio GP and high-energy emission. The correlation of Crab pulsar GPs with optical, X-ray and gamma-ray photons was studied for the past 20 years, with only radio/optical link confirmed so far. In my talk I will present the summary of the observational evidence of radio GPs and give an overview of theoretical advances on giant-pulse emission mechanism.

Galileo radio-propagation experiments are based on measurements of absolute and differential propagation time delay, differential phase delay, Doppler shift, signal strength, and polarization. These measurements can be used to study: the atmospheric and ionospheric structure, constituents, and dynamics of Jupiter; the magnetic field of Jupiter; the diameter of Io, its ionospheric structure, and the distribution of plasma in the Io torus; the diameters of the other Galilean satellites, certain properties of their surfaces, and possibly their atmospheres and ionospheres; and the plasma dynamics and magnetic field of the solar corona. The spacecraft system provides linear rather than circular polarization on the S-band downlink signal, the capability to receive X-band uplink signals, and a differential downlink ranging mode. A highly-stable, dual-frequency, spacecraft radio system is developed that is suitable for simultaneous measurements of all the parameters normally attributed to radio waves.

Three planets, the earth, Jupiter and Saturn are known to emit nonthermal radio waves which require coherent radiation processes. The characteristic features (frequency spectrum, polarization, occurrence probability, radiation pattern) are discussed. Radiation which is externally controlled by the solar wind is distinguished from internally controlled radiation which only originates from Jupiter. The efficiency of the externally controlled radiation is roughly the same at all three planets (5 x 10 to the -6th) suggesting that similar processes are active there. The maser radiation mechanism for the generation of the radio waves and general requirements for the mechanism which couples the power generator to the region where the radio waves are generated are briefly discussed.

An improved radio frequency coaxial transmission line vacuum feedthrough is provided based on the use of a half-wavelength annular dielectric pressure barrier disk, or multiple disks comprising an effective half wavelength structure to eliminate reflection from the barrier surfaces. Gas-tight seals are formed about the outer and inner diameter surfaces of the barrier disk using a sealing technique which generates radial forces sufficient to form seals by forcing the conductor walls against the surfaces of the barrier disks in a manner which does not deform the radii of the inner and outer conductors, thereby preventing enhancement of the electric field at the barrier faces which limits the voltage and power handling capabilities of a feedthrough.

Study of radio supernovae over the past 27 years includes more than three dozen detected objects and more than 150 upper limits. From this work it is possible to identify classes of radio properties, demonstrate conformance to and deviations from existing models, estimate the density and structure of the circumstellar material and, by inference, the evolution of the presupernova stellar wind, and reveal the last stages of stellar evolution before explosion. It is also possible to detect ionized hydrogen along the line of sight, to demonstrate binary properties of the presupernova stellar system, and to detect clumpiness of the circumstellar material. Along with reviewing these general properties of the radio emission from supernovae, we present our extensive observations of the radio emission from supernova (SN) 1993J in M 81 (NGC 3031) made with the Very Large Array and other radio telescopes. The SN 1993J radio emission evolves regularly in both time and frequency, and the usual interpretation in terms of shock interaction with a circumstellar medium (CSM) formed by a pre-supernova stellar wind describes the observations rather well considering the complexity of the phenomenon. However: 1) The highest frequency measurements at 85-110 GHz at early times (<40 days) are not well fitted by the parameterization which describes the cm wavelength measurements rather well. 2) At mid-cm wavelengths there is often deviation from the fitted radio light curves, particularly near the peak flux density, and considerable shorter term deviations in the declining portion when the emission has become optically thin. 3) At a time ~3100 days after shock breakout, the decline rate of the radio emission steepens from (t+β)β~-0.7 to β~-2.7 without change in the spectral index (ν+αα~-0.81). However, this decline is best described not as a power-law, but as an exponential decay starting at day ~3100 with an e-folding time of ~1100 days. 4) The best overall fit to all of the data is

After receiving a NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from Kennedy Space Center, Soneticom Inc., based in West Melbourne, Florida, created algorithms for time difference of arrival and radio interferometry, which it used in its Lynx Location System (LLS) to locate electromagnetic interference that can disrupt radio communications. Soneticom is collaborating with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to install and test the LLS at its field test center in New Jersey in preparation for deploying the LLS at commercial airports. The software collects data from each sensor in order to compute the location of the interfering emitter.

A dynamic constellation of microspacecraft in lunar orbit can carry out valuable radio astronomy investigations in the frequency range of 30kHz--30MHz, a range that is difficult to explore from Earth. In contrast to the radio astronomy ivestigations that have flown on individual spacecraft, the four microspacecraft together with a carrier spacecraft, which transported them to lunar orbit, form an interferometer with far superior angular resolution. Use of microspacecraft allows the entire constellation to be launched with a Taurus-class vehicle. Also distinguishing this approach is that the Moon is used as needed to shield the constellation from RF interference from the Earth and Sun.

Study of radio supernovae over the past 27 years includes more than three dozen detected objects and more than 150 upper limits. From this work it is possible to identify classes of radio properties, demonstrate conformance to and deviations from existing models, estimate the density and structure of the circumstellar material and, by inference, the evolution of the presupernova stellar wind, and reveal the last stages of stellar evolution before explosion. It is also possible to detect ionized hydrogen along the line of sight, to demonstrate binary properties of the presupernova stellar system, and to detect dumpiness of the circumstellar material.

The main aim of this study was to determine the accuracy of the ultra-wideband (UWB)-based positioning system Ubisense, which is used for time-motion analysis in sports. Furthermore, some alternatives for positioning the system's transponders on the atheletes, as well as the accuracy depending on the location of measurement, were tested. Therefore, in a pre-study, some basic issues were examined (measurement assumptions and consistency and location of the system's transponder used for position detection), and position measurements at the borders and in the centre of a basketball field were performed. In the main study, 13 male basketball players (15.8 years ± 0.6; 187.9 height ± 3.4; 77.5 weight ± 3.7), equipped with a Ubisense transponder mounted on top of their heads, handled a trundle wheel during simulated match play. The players with the trundle wheel participated passively in the match by following one of the ten competing players. The distance measurements of the trundle wheel were used as reference values and compared to the Ubisense distance estimations. Best results were found with the measurements of a single mounted transponder on top of the athlete's heads. No differences were detectable in the accuracy between measurements in the centre and at the borders of the basketball field. The (Ubisense) system's difference to the (trundle wheel) reference was 3.45 ± 1.99%, resulting in 95% limits of agreement of -0.46-7.35%. The study indicates the examined system's sufficient accuracy for time-motion analysis in basketball. PMID:24512176

... Order 1. On March 17, 2005, the Commission adopted the Cognitive Radio Report and Order, 70 FR 23032... Memorandum Opinion and Order (MO&O), 72 FR 31190, June 6, 2007, which responded to two petitions filed in... COMMISSION 47 CFR Part 2 Cognitive Radio Technologies and Software Defined Radios AGENCY:...

During the Voyager 1 Titan flyby, unusual radio emissions were observed by the planetary radio astronomy experiment in the 20- to 97-kHz frequency range. It is shown that Titan itself is not the source of the observed radio emission. The emission features are attributed to modification of the normal Saturn kilometric radiation by propagation effects in enhanced density structures within the Titan wake. Furthermore, spiky emissions observed in the magnetic wake of Titan are interpreted in terms of local electrostatic instabilities at the electron plasma frequency. From these measurements a range of electron densities in the wake region is derived, and the consistency of the results is discussed.

Examines whether talk radio serves different purposes for listeners who phone in, compared to those who do not. Finds that talk radio provides callers with an accessible and nonthreatening alternative to interpersonal communication. (MS)

A dielectric prism and switching mechanism have been constructed for beamswitching a Cassegrain radio telescope. Spatially extended radio sources may be mapped without significant confusion utilizing the sensitivity and stability inherent in the conventional Dicke radiometer. PMID:18699031

Torun Center for Astronomy is located at Piwnice, 15 km north of Torun, Poland. A part of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy of the Nicolaus Copernicus University, it was created by the union of Torun Radio Astronomy Observatory (TRAO) and the Institute of Astronomy on 1 January 1997....

This volume has been designed as a supplement to a course in Albanian developed by the Defense Language Institute. The emphasis in this text is placed on radio communications instruction. The volume is divided into five exercises, each of which contains a vocabulary, dictation, and an air-to-ground communications procedure conducted in Albanian…

Describes a radio program in an English-as-a-Foreign-Language classroom in Israel. Classrooms of English students listen carefully to daily broadcasts, waiting to solve the brain teaser. Personal messages and catchy music follow the program. The project has encouraged students to use English actively and purposefully. Evaluation of the broadcasts…

This is a simulation package for making site specific predictions of radio signal strength. The software computes received power at discrete grid points as a function of the transmitter location and propagation environment. It is intended for use with wireless network simulation packages and to support wireless network deployments.

This report summarizes information about the Svetloe Radio Astronomical Observatory activities in 2012. Last year, a number of changes took place in the observatory to improve some technical characteristics and to upgrade some units to their required status. The report provides an overview of current geodetic VLBI activities and gives an outlook for the future.

A radio ranging device is described. It utilizes a super regenerative detector-oscillator in which echoes of transmitted pulses are received in proper phase to reduce noise energy at a selected range and also at multiples of the selected range.

This report summarizes information about Zelenchukskaya Radio Astronomical Observatory activities in 2012. Last year a number of changes took place in the observatory to improve some technical characteristics and to upgrade some units to the required status. The report provides an overview of current geodetic VLBI activities and gives an outlook for the future.

This manual is intended for those who must conduct educational radio broadcasting training courses in Asia-Pacific countries without the resources of experienced personnel, as well as for individuals to use in self-learning situations. The selection of material has been influenced by the need to use broadcasting resources effectively in programs…

This unit focuses on Japanese radio exercises which became popular in Japan just after World War II and are still used among students and workers in companies to help raise morale and form group unity. The exercises reflect the general role of exercise in Japanese culture--to serve as a symbol of unity and cooperation among the Japanese, as well…

This report summarizes information found in a survey of the literature on radio as an educational medium which covered the published literature from many areas of the world. Comments on the literature reviewed are provided throughout the text, which is organized under seven major headings: (1) Radio, Mass Medium; (2) Radio, the Medium (broadening…

National Public Radio's educational staff is experimenting with radio in the classroom by dramatizing the issues of the Afghan crisis in an audiodisc presentation mailed to teachers around the country. The article includes samples of dialogue from the tape, student opinions, and why radio is the medium used. (CT)

The purpose of this booklet is to provide school board members, administrators, teachers, and others interested in education with an understanding of radio, how it works, and how school systems can take advantage of the communications possibilities offered by radio. After providing background information on radio as a mass communications medium…

Presents a classroom activity in which students communicated with U.S. and Russian astronauts via ham radio while they were in orbit on the space station Mir. Gives suggestions for other ham radio classroom activities as well as names of organizations, publications, and grant programs that teachers can access to help in bring ham radio into their…

Aims: This paper discusses the spectral occupancy for performing radio astronomy with the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR), with a focus on imaging observations. Methods: We have analysed the radio-frequency interference (RFI) situation in two 24-h surveys with Dutch LOFAR stations, covering 30-78 MHz with low-band antennas and 115-163 MHz with high-band antennas. This is a subset of the full frequency range of LOFAR. The surveys have been observed with a 0.76 kHz/1 s resolution. Results: We measured the RFI occupancy in the low and high frequency sets to be 1.8% and 3.2% respectively. These values are found to be representative values for the LOFAR radio environment. Between day and night, there is no significant difference in the radio environment. We find that lowering the current observational time and frequency resolutions of LOFAR results in a slight loss of flagging accuracy. At LOFAR's nominal resolution of 0.76 kHz and 1 s, the false-positives rate is about 0.5%. This rate increases approximately linearly when decreasing the data frequency resolution. Conclusions: Currently, by using an automated RFI detection strategy, the LOFAR radio environment poses no perceivable problems for sensitive observing. It remains to be seen if this is still true for very deep observations that integrate over tens of nights, but the situation looks promising. Reasons for the low impact of RFI are the high spectral and time resolution of LOFAR; accurate detection methods; strong filters and high receiver linearity; and the proximity of the antennas to the ground. We discuss some strategies that can be used once low-level RFI starts to become apparent. It is important that the frequency range of LOFAR remains free of broadband interference, such as DAB stations and windmills.

A Ziva team has recently demonstrated a novel technique called Collaborative Beamfocusing Radios (COBRA) which enables an ad-hoc collection of distributed commercial off-the-shelf software defined radios to coherently align and beamform to a remote radio. COBRA promises to operate even in high multipath and non-line-of-sight environments as well as mobile applications without resorting to computationally expensive closed loop techniques that are currently unable to operate with significant movement. COBRA exploits two key technologies to achieve coherent beamforming. The first is Time Reversal (TR) which compensates for multipath and automatically discovers the optimal spatio-temporal matched filter to enable peak signal gains (up to 20 dB) and diffraction-limited focusing at the intended receiver in NLOS and severe multipath environments. The second is time-aligned buffering which enables TR to synchronize distributed transmitters into a collaborative array. This time alignment algorithm avoids causality violations through the use of reciprocal buffering. Preserving spatio-temporal reciprocity through the TR capture and retransmission process achieves coherent alignment across multiple radios at ~GHz carriers using only standard quartz-oscillators. COBRA has been demonstrated in the lab, aligning two off-the-shelf software defined radios over-the-air to an accuracy of better than 2 degrees of carrier alignment at 450 MHz. The COBRA algorithms are lightweight, with computation in 5 ms on a smartphone class microprocessor. COBRA also has low start-up latency, achieving high accuracy from a cold-start in 30 ms. The COBRA technique opens up a large number of new capabilities in communications, and electronic warfare including selective spatial jamming, geolocation and anti-geolocation.

In order to investigate the physical relationship between X-ray and radio core emission in radio-selected quasars, 35 radio quasars have been observed with the VLA at 6 and 20 cm. The sample was chosen from a list of radio quasars with known X-ray luminosity but poorly known radio properties. Including data gathered from the literature, radio core detections or upper limits at 6 cm have been obtained for 127 radio quasars which have published Einstein X-ray data. A statistical association is sought between radio core luminosity and X-ray luminosity, and it is found that there is a strong correlation. The slope of the relation of L(x) to L(Gamma)-alpha is alpha = 0.71 + or - 0.07 for unresolved quasars with flat radio spectra. The slope decreases as quasars with extended radio regions are considered. This is traced to the presence of radio emission which is unrelated to the X-ray emission, in the presently unresolved cores of quasars.

Accurate radio positions with a precision of about 0.01 arcsec are reported for eight compact extragalactic radio sources south of -45-deg declination. The radio positions were determined using VLBI at 8.4 GHz on the 9589 km Tidbinbilla (Australia) to Hartebeesthoek (South Africa) baseline. The sources were selected from the Parkes Catalogue to be strong, flat-spectrum radio sources with bright optical QSO counterparts. Optical positions of the QSOs were also measured from the ESO B Sky Survey plates with respect to stars from the Perth 70 Catalogue, to an accuracy of about 0.19 arcsec rms. These radio and optical positions are as precise as any presently available in the far southern sky. A comparison of the radio and optical positions confirms the estimated optical position errors and shows that there is overall agreement at the 0.1-arcsec level between the radio and Perth 70 optical reference frames in the far south.

In the frame of the preparation of the NASA/JUNO and ESA/JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer) missions, and the development of a planetary sciences virtual observatory (VO), we are proposing a new set of tools directed to data providers as well as users, in order to ease data sharing and discovery. We will focus on ground based planetary radio observations (thus mainly Jupiter radio emissions), trying for instance to enhance the temporal coverage of jovian decametric emission. The data service we will be using is EPN-TAP, a planetary science data access protocol developed by Europlanet-VESPA (Virtual European Solar and Planetary Access). This protocol is derived from IVOA (International Virtual Observatory Alliance) standards. The Jupiter Routine Observations from the Nancay Decameter Array are already shared on the planetary science VO using this protocol, as well as data from the Iitate Low Frquency Radio Antenna, in Japan. Amateur radio data from the RadioJOVE project is also available. The attached figure shows data from those three providers. We will first introduce the VO tools and concepts of interest for the planetary radioastronomy community. We will then present the various data formats now used for such data services, as well as their associated metadata. We will finally show various prototypical tools that make use of this shared datasets.

In this paper, a novel broadband CPW-fed circularly polarized (CP) monopole antenna is presented. The antenna is composed of a falcate-shaped patch and an improved ground plane. By adding an I-shaped stub in the ground plane, the impedance and axial-ratio (AR) bandwidths can be greatly enhanced. The antenna has been fabricated and measured. Good agreement is achieved between the simulation and measurement, which shows that the proposed antenna covers a 10-dB impedance bandwidth of 122% from 2.78 to 11.46 GHz, and a 3-dB AR bandwidth of 53.3% from 4.4 to 7.6 GHz.

This paper provides on overview of tomographic approaches to ionospheric remote sensing in the radio-wave range. The ionosphere has a very complicated structure. Thus, it is reasonable to divide tomographic methods into deterministic and statistical ones. The deterministic tomography problems can be subdivided into ray radio tomography and diffraction radio tomography. The statistical radio tomography approach is used when it is necessary to reconstruct the statistical structure of a great number of inhomogeneities, on the basis of measurements of field statistics (instead of one realization of the reconstruction of an inhomogeneity). The methods of solving radio-tomography problems, and their connection with inverse-scattering problems, are considered. The results of some first experiments are described, which show the possibilities of the radio tomography approaches. In conclusion, we discuss perspectives, directions of the development of radio tomography, and problems which appear. 30 refs.

The discovery of bursts of energetic photons coming out to space from the Earth's atmosphere, referred to as terrsetrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), has stimulated research activity investigating different aspects of the TGF generation and accompanying processes. Two models of the TGF production are nowadays competing to explain the observations of the TGFs and related phenomena. One of the models involves the feedback mechanism enhancing the production rate of the runaway electrons in the ambient electric field of a thundercloud. Another model considers runaway electrons accelerated in the strong local electric field in front of the upward propagating negative leader of the +IC. We performed a detailed analysis of RHESSI TGFs detected between August 2004 and September 2015. It was reported that the RHESSI satellite clock has a systematic error of ˜ 1.8 ms, but the exact value remained unknown, also it was unclear if this systematic clock error is changing with time or not. We compared RHESSI TGFs with the world wide lightning location network (WWLLN) database and found the distribution of the time delays between the TGF peak times and associated WWLLN detections. This distribution allowed us to find the value of the RHESSI systematic clock offset with the microsecond accuracy level. Also we found that this offset experienced two changes: in August 2005 and in October 2013, which was confirmed by two independent ways. We found that in case of double TGFs WWLLN detection corresponds to the second TGF of the pair. VLF magnetic field recordings from the Duke University also attribute radio sferics to the second TGF, exhibiting no detectable radio emission during the first TGFs of the TGF pairs. We have proposed a possible scenario that is consistent with the observations. This scenario supports the leader-based model of the TGF generation. Spectral characteristics of 77 sferics recorded by the Duke University VLF sensors and related to the RHEESI TGFs show that maximal

Context. The mechanism of radio emission in radio-quiet (RQ) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is still debated and might arise from the central AGN, from star formation activity in the host, or from either of these sources. A direct detection of compact and bright radio cores embedded in sources that are classified as RQ can unambiguously determine whether a central AGN significantly contributes to the radio emission. Aims: We search for compact, high-surface-brightness radio cores in RQ AGNs that are caused unambiguously by AGN activity. Methods: We used the Australian Long Baseline Array to search for compact radio cores in four RQ AGNs located in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS). We also targeted four radio-loud (RL) AGNs as a control sample. Results: We detected compact and bright radio cores in two AGNs that are classified as RQ and in one that is classified as RL. Two RL AGNs were not imaged because the quality of the observations was too poor. Conclusions: We report on a first direct evidence of radio cores in RQ AGNs at cosmological redshifts. Our detections show that some of the sources that are classified as RQ contain an active AGN that can contribute significantly (~50% or more) to the total radio emission.

Radio telecommunication links are used for communication with deep space probes. These links consist of sinusoidal carrier signals at radio frequencies (RF) modulated with information sent between the spacecraft and the earth. This carrier signal is a very pure and stable sinusoid, typically derived from an atomic frequency standard whose frequency and phase are used to measure the radial velocity of the probe and from this and other data types derive its trajectory. This same observable can be used to search for space-time distortions cased by low frequency (0.1 to 100 MHz) gravitation radiation. How such a system works, what its sensitivity limitations are, and what potential future improvements can be made are discussed.

This paper presents an overview of the various radiation mechanisms believed to play a role in stellar radio emission. The radio emission from most stars is nonthermal and is generally due to mildly relativistic electrons with energies from a few keV to over 10 MeV. Magnetic fields play a crucial role both in accelerating the electrons to the requisite energies and in mediating the emission mechanism. They also play a fundamental role in creating the velocity anisotropies that are necessary for the operation of some of the coherent emission mechanisms. Coherent emission is seen most commonly on the M dwarfs, rarely on the RS CVns, and has yet to be detected for any other class of star. These coherent processes are best studied by means of their dynamic spectra; such studies are now just getting underway.

The Authors, after a careful review of literature about the instrumental diagnostic techniques (with particular attention to the nuclear-medical ones) and the surgical therapy of parathyroid diseases, report their experience on the use of the radio-guided mininvasive surgery with MIBI and gamma-probe for intraoperative localization of pathological glands. Once exposed their experience, the Authors conclude asserting that this technique is fast, slightly invasive and expensive, and certainly useful for the detection of pathological or ectopic glands. It can be widely employed because, in comparison to its numerous advantages, such as the reduction of the operating time and of the hospital-stay, the greater radicality and the possibility to use mininvasive techniques, it does not present significant technical limitations and/or radio-protectionistic problems. PMID:20109383

Following a brief prologue and historical overview, such technical issues as the repertoire of systems and services, management of the airwaves, the operating environment, service quality, network issues and cell size, channel coding and modulation, speech coding, diversity, multiplex, and multiple access (FDMA, TDMA, CDMA) are discussed. Also addressed are the potential economic and sociological impacts of mobile radio communications in the wake of the redistribution of airwaves at the World Administrative Radio Conference WARC '92. Performance dependence on multipath delay (related to the cell size and terrain configuration), Doppler frequency (related to the carrier frequency, data rate, and the speed of vehicles), and message length (can dictate the choice of multiple access) is briefly discussed.

The Rosetta Radio Science Investigations (RSI) experiment was selected by the European Space Agency to be included in the International Rosetta Mission to comet P/Wirtanen (launch in 2003, arrival and operational phase at the comet 2011-2013). The RSI science objectives address fundamental aspects of cometary physics such as the mass and bulk density of the nucleus, the gravity field, non-gravitational forces, the size and shape, the internal structure, the composition and roughness of the nucleus surface, the abundance of large dust grains and the plasma content in the coma and the combined dust and gas mass flux on the orbiter. RSI will make use of the radio system of the Rosetta spacecraft.

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a well-known non-destructive technique based on electromagnetic wave propagation that is able to detect by reflection or scattering of waves dielectric discontinuities in the underground. Our application is mainly concerned with civil engineering to perform supervision, inventory, and soil characterization. Because the air-coupled radar suffers from a significant reflection at the ground interface that reduces energy transfer of electromagnetic radiation in the sub-surface and penetration depth, we have developed an ultra-wide band (UWB) ground-coupled radar made of a pair of partially shielded compact planar bowtie slot antennas. As the antenna dimension (36*23 cm2) is close to the A4 sheet size, the maturity of the microstrip technology has allowed to design a particular geometry on the FR4 substrate (h=1.5 mm) which is able to operate at frequencies from 460 MHz to beyond 4 GHz in air. Contrary to a commercial GPR where details on antenna design are not available, it appears here possible to know and control the radiation characteristics and develop full-wave FDTD modeling that can represent field experiments for comparisons and analyses. The objective of this work is to improve, by means of a parametric study, the knowledge of physical phenomena involved in dielectric polarization when waves interact with buried discontinuities and particularly cracks, pipes, delaminations that can be distinguished by their shape, size, dielectric contrast with the surrounding medium, orientation relative to the electric field… Thus, we have first characterized by FDTD modeling and field measurements in a wet sand the radar link in two perpendicular polarizations (parallel and mirror) in the presence of a common soil (epsilon'=5.5, sigma=0.01 S/m) considering variable offsets. Afterwards, we have studied and analyzed the hyperbola signatures generated by the presence of buried canonical objects (pipes, strips) with several dielectric

abstract-type="normal">SummaryWe are entering a new era in the study of variable and transient radio sources. This workshop discussed the instruments and the strategies employed to study those sources, how they are identified and classified, how results from different surveys can be compared, and how radio observations tie in with those at other wavelengths. The emphasis was on learning what common ground there is between the plethora of on-going projects, how methods and code can be shared, and how best practices regarding survey strategy could be adopted. The workshop featured the four topics below. Each topic commenced with a fairly brief introductory talk, which then developed into discussion. By way of preparation, participants had been invited to upload and discuss one slide per topic to a wiki ahead of the workshop. 1. Telescopes, instrumentation and survey strategy. New radio facilities and on-going projects (including upgrades) are both studying the variability of the radio sky, and searching for transients. The discussion first centred on the status of those facilities, and on projects with a time-domain focus, both ongoing and planned, before turning to factors driving choices of instrumentation, such as phased array versus single pixel feeds, the field of view, spatial and time resolution, frequency and bandwidth, depth, area, and cadence of the surveys. 2. Detection, pipelines, and classification. The workshop debated (a) the factors that influence decisions to study variability in the (u,v) plane, in images, or in catalogues, (b) whether, and how much, pipeline code could potentially be shared between one project and another, and which software packages are best for different approaches, (c) how data are stored and later accessed, and (d) how transients and variables are defined and classified. 3. Statistics, interpretation, and synthesis. It then discussed how (i) the choice of facility and strategy and (ii) detection and classification schemes

This paper describes an update of the Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) open architecture for NASA space based radios. The STRS architecture has been defined as a framework for the design, development, operation and upgrade of space based software defined radios, where processing resources are constrained. The architecture has been updated based upon reviews by NASA missions, radio providers, and component vendors. The STRS Standard prescribes the architectural relationship between the software elements used in software execution and defines the Application Programmer Interface (API) between the operating environment and the waveform application. Modeling tools have been adopted to present the architecture. The paper will present a description of the updated API, configuration files, and constraints. Minimum compliance is discussed for early implementations. The paper then closes with a summary of the changes made and discussion of the relevant alignment with the Object Management Group (OMG) SWRadio specification, and enhancements to the specialized signal processing abstraction.

The radio spectrum is a finite and increasingly precious resource for astronomical research, as well as for other spectrum users. Keeping the frequency bands used for radio astronomy as free as possible of unwanted Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is crucial. The aim of spectrum management, one of the tools used towards achieving this goal, includes setting regulatory limits on RFI levels emitted by other spectrum users into the radio astronomy frequency bands. This involves discussions with regulatory bodies and other spectrum users at several levels - national, regional and worldwide. The global framework for spectrum management is set by the Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunication Union, which has defined that interference is detrimental to radio astronomy if it increases the uncertainty of a measurement by 10%. The Radio Regulations are revised every three to four years, a process in which four organisations representing the interests of the radio astronomical community in matters of spectrum management (IUCAF, CORF, CRAF and RAFCAP) participate actively. The current interests and activities of these four organisations range from preserving what has been achieved through regulatory measures, to looking far into the future of high frequency use and giant radio telescope use.

The relationship between the radio and optical emissions from the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151 is investigated by mapping the radio radiation from this source at wavelengths of 20 and 6 cm using the Very Large Array of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Results show that the radio emission at wavelengths from 20 to 6 cm extend 10'' (950 pc) along a position angle of 72-84 degrees. This nonthermal emission is found to consist of at least six components and is similar to jets observed in other compact extragalactic radio sources. These radio jets appear to be coincident with the optical line emission region in NGC 4151 and are aligned with the position angle of the linearly polarized optical continuum emission.

The very existence of more than a dozen of high-redshift (z ≳ 4) blazars indicates that a much larger population of misaligned powerful jetted active galactic nucleus (AGN) was already in place when the Universe was ≲1.5 Gyr old. Such parent population proved to be very elusive, and escaped direct detection in radio surveys so far. High-redshift blazars themselves seem to be failing in producing extended radio lobes, raising questions about the connection between such class and the vaster population of radio galaxies. We show that the interaction of the jet electrons with the intense cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation explains the lack of extended radio emission in high-redshift blazars and in their parent population, helping to explain the apparently missing misaligned counterparts of high-redshift blazars. On the other hand, the emission from the more compact and more magnetized hotspots are less affected by the enhanced CMB energy density. By modelling the spectral energy distribution of blazar lobes and hotspots, we find that most of them should be detectable by low-frequency deep radio observations, e.g. by LOw-Frequency ARray for radio astronomy and by relatively deep X-ray observations with good angular resolution, e.g. by the Chandra satellite. At high redshifts, the emission of a misaligned relativistic jet, being debeamed, is missed by current large sky area surveys. The isotropic flux produced in the hotspots can be below ˜1 mJy and the isotropic lobe radio emission is quenched by the CMB cooling. Consequently, even sources with very powerful jets can go undetected in current radio surveys, and misclassified as radio-quiet AGNs.

Sprites are composed of individual streamer discharges (e.g., Pasko, 2010) which split into exponentially growing streamer tips (McHarg et al., 2010). The acceleration of the electrons to a few eV results in the radiation of a small amount of electromagnetic energy. The incoherent superposition of many streamers causes the low frequency radio noise from sprites near ~40 km height (Qin et al., 2012). The presence of this theoretically predicted radiation was recently confirmed by low frequency radio noise measurements during dancing sprites with a very sensitive radio receiver (Fullekrug et al., 2013). To locate the radio noise from sprites in the sky, an interferometric network of low frequency radio receivers was developed (Mezentsev and Fullekrug, JGR, 2013). The key parameter for the interferometric signal processing is the frequency dependent wave propagation velocity of the radio waves within the Earth's atmosphere. This wave propagation velocity is determined by the wave number vector which needs to be inferred from the measurements. Here we adapt and subsequently apply array analyses which have been developed for seismic and infrasound arrays to determine the horizontal wave number vectors of ~20-24 kHz radio waves measured with an array of ten radio receivers distributed over an area of ~1 km × 1 km. It is found that the horizontal slowness of ~20-24 kHz radio waves ranges from ~2.7 ns/m to ~4.1 ns/m depending on the arrival azimuth of the radio wave. For comparison, an electromagnetic wave in vacuum has a slowness of ~3.34 ns/m. A larger slowness indicates an apparent velocity which is smaller than the speed of light and a smaller slowness indicates that the radio wave arrives at the array from an elevation angle. The observed variability of the observed slowness almost certainly results from the distance dependent superposition of the transverse electric and magnetic TEn and TMn radio wave propagation modes.

In this paper, a novel method to generate both monocycle and doublet UWB pulses is demonstrated, where pulse shape modulation(PSM) can be easily implemented. Only two wavelengths and two modulators (one dual-in dual-out modulator) are applied to achieve PSM. The data driving the first modulator is set to be 250Mbit/s 107-1 pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS). The 1GHz pulse pattern is synchronised with the data. The electrical spectrum of the signals processes the centre frequency of 4GHz and -10dB bandwidth of 5.9GHz. The fractional bandwidth is about 147.5%, which matches the FCC standard.

Context: We study a rare type of solar radio bursts called decimetric dot emissions. Aims: In the period 1999-2001, 20 events of decimetric dot emissions observed by the Brazilian Solar Spectroscope (BSS) in the frequency range 950-2640 MHz are investigated statistically and compared with radio fine structures of zebras and fibers. Methods: For the study of the spectral characteristics of the dot emissions we use specially developed Interactive Data Language (IDL) software called BSSView and basic statistical methods. Results: We have found that the dm dot emissions, contrary to the fine structures of the type IV bursts (i.e. zebras, fibers, lace bursts, spikes), are not superimposed on any background burst emission. In the radio spectrum, in most cases the dot emissions form chains that appear to be arranged in zebra patterns or fibers. Because some zebras and fibers, especially those observed with high time and high spectral resolutions, also show emission dots (but superimposed on the background burst emission), we compared the spectral parameters of the dot emissions with the dots being the fine structure of zebras and fibers. For both these dots, similar spectral characteristics were found. Some similarities of the dot emissions can be found also with the lace bursts and spikes. For some events the dot emissions show structural evolution from patterns resembling fibers to patterns resembling zebras and vice versa, or they evolve into fully chaotic patterns. Conclusions: For the first time, we present decimetric dot emissions that appear to be arranged in zebra patterns or fibers. We propose that these emissions are generated by the plasma emission mechanism at the locations in the solar atmosphere where the double resonance condition is fulfilled.

A subjective overview of Internet resources for radio-astronomical information is presented. Basic observing techniques and their implications for the interpretation of publicly available radio data are described, followed by a discussion of existing radio surveys, their level of optical identification, and nomenclature of radio sources. Various collections of source catalogues and databases for integrated radio source parameters are reviewed and compared, as well as the web interfaces to interrogate the current and ongoing large-area surveys. Links to radio observatories with archives of raw (uv-) data are presented, as well as services providing images, both of individual objects or extracts (``cutouts'') from large-scale surveys. While the emphasis is on radio continuum data, a brief list of sites providing spectral line data, and atomic or molecular information is included. The major radio telescopes and surveys under construction or planning are outlined. A summary is given of a search for previously unknown optically bright radio sources, as performed by the students as an exercise, using Internet resources only. Over 200 different links are mentioned and were verified, but despite the attempt to make this report up-to-date, it can only provide a snapshot of the situation as of mid-1998.

A low frequency radio telescope has been recently been constructed on the campus of the The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and has begun conducting observations at 20MHz as part of NASA'a Radio Jove program. This instrument is capable of observations of solar radio emission including strong prompt radio emission associated with solar burst events. We will discuss solar observations conducted with this instrument as well as an effort to conduct coincident observations with the Eight-meter-wavelength Transient Array (ETA) and the Long Wavelength Array (LWA).

Radio molecular lines appear to be useful probes into the stellar environment. Silicon oxide masers provide information on the physical conditions in the immediate vicinity of the stellar photosphere. Valuable information on the physics operating in the envelope of IRC + 10216 was recently obtained by high sensitivity observations and detailed theoretical analyses. Infrared speckle interferometry in the molecular lines and in the continuum is helpful in the investigation of the inner region of the envelope. These techniques are discussed in terms of late-type star mass loss.

Active areas of both observational and theoretical research in which rapid progress is being made are discussed. These include: (1) the dynamic spectrum or frequency versus time plot; (2) physical mechanisms in the development of various types of bursts; (3) microwave type 1, 2, 3, and moving type 4 bursts; (4) bursts caused by trapped electrons; (5) physics of type 3bursts; (6) the physics of type 2 bursts and their related shocks; (7) the physics of both stationary and moving traps and associated type 1 and moving type 4 bursts; and (8) the status of the field of solar radio emission.

A high peak power level r-f attenuator that is readily and easily insertable along a coaxial cable having an inner conductor and an outer annular conductor without breaking the ends thereof is presented. Spaced first and second flares in the outer conductor face each other with a slidable cylindrical outer conductor portion therebetween. Dielectric means, such as water, contact the cable between the flares to attenuate the radio-frequency energy received thereby. The cylindrical outer conductor portion is slidable to adjust the voltage standing wave ratio to a low level, and one of the flares is slidable to adjust the attenuation level. An integral dielectric container is also provided. (AFC)

Radio has been used for educational purposes since its beginning in the early 1920's; the application of radio to the educational problems of the developing nations is not a new concept by any means. Among the uses of educational radio are foreign radio schools, classroom radio uses, "Accion Cultural Popular" (ACPO), and correspondence radio…

The existence of an isotropic component of the high-latitude radio sky has been recognized for nearly fifty years, but has typically been assumed to be Galactic in origin. We use recent radio observations to test whether the observed high-latitude component could originate within either an extended Galactic halo or a more local "bubble" structure. The lack of significant polarization from the isotropic component, combined with the lack of significant correlation with the Galactic far-infrared emission, rule out an origin within the Galaxy. We conclude that an extragalactic origin is the only viable alternative for the bulk of the isotropic high-latitude emission. The extragalactic component is 2-3 times brighter than local (Galactic) emission towards the Galactic poles and is consistent with a power law in frequency with amplitude T(sub r) = 24.1 plus or minus 2.1 K and spectral index beta = -2.599 plus or minus 0.036 evaluated at reference frequency 310 MHz.

I created a simple device that can detect radio waves in a classroom. In physics classes I tell students that we live in a sea of radio waves. They come from TV, radio, and cell phone signals as well as other sources. Students don't realize this because those electromagnetic waves are invisible. So, I wondered if I could come up with a way to detect the waves and help students to understand them better. Electromagnetic wave meters, which measure intensity of radio waves quantitatively, are commercially available. However, to students most of these are black boxes, and at the introductory level it is more effective to detect radio waves in a simpler way. This paper describes my device and how I have used it in my classes.

In the frame of the preparation of the NASA/JUNO and ESA/JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer) missions, and the development of a planetary sciences virtual observatory (VO), we are proposing a new set of tools directed to data providers as well as users, in order to ease data sharing and discovery. We will focus on ground based planetary radio observations (thus mainly Jupiter radio emissions), trying for instance to enhance the temporal coverage of jovian decametric emission. The data service we will be using is EPN-TAP, a planetary science data access protocol developed by Europlanet-VESPA (Virtual European Solar and Planetary Access). This protocol is derived from IVOA (International Virtual Observatory Alliance) standards. The Jupiter Routine Observations from the Nancay Decameter Array are already shared on the planetary science VO using this protocol. Amateur radio data from the RadioJOVE project is also available. We will first introduce the VO tools and concepts of interest for the planetary radioastronomy community. We will then present the various data formats now used for such data services, as well as their associated metadata. We will finally show various prototypical tools that make use of this shared datasets. A preliminary study based on January-February 2014 data will also be presented

The sixth European Interferometry School (ERIS2015) was held at ESO for the first time. As usual the school was aimed at graduate students and early-career postdocs, but this year the emphasis was on enhanced wide-bandwidth interferometers covering metre to submillimetre wavebands. More than 100 participants attended ERIS2015. The topics of the school are briefly described here. They covered a wide range, from an introduction to radio interferometric techniques through packages for data reduction and analysis to hands-on workshop sessions and proposal writing.

A software defined radio (SDR) architecture used in space-based platforms proposes to standardize certain aspects of radio development such as interface definitions, functional control and execution, and application software and firmware development. NASA has charted a team to develop an open software defined radio hardware and software architecture to support NASA missions and determine the viability of an Agency-wide Standard. A draft concept of the proposed standard has been released and discussed among organizations in the SDR community. Appropriate leveraging of the JTRS SCA, OMG's SWRadio Architecture and other aspects are considered. A standard radio architecture offers potential value by employing common waveform software instantiation, operation, testing and software maintenance. While software defined radios offer greater flexibility, they also poses challenges to the radio development for the space environment in terms of size, mass and power consumption and available technology. An SDR architecture for space must recognize and address the constraints of space flight hardware, and systems along with flight heritage and culture. NASA is actively participating in the development of technology and standards related to software defined radios. As NASA considers a standard radio architecture for space communications, input and coordination from government agencies, the industry, academia, and standards bodies is key to a successful architecture. The unique aspects of space require thorough investigation of relevant terrestrial technologies properly adapted to space. The talk will describe NASA s current effort to investigate SDR applications to space missions and a brief overview of a candidate architecture under consideration for space based platforms.

The SETI Radio Spectrum Surveillance System (SRSSS) will provide a data base for assessing the radio frequency interference (RFI) environment for SETI and minimizing RFI disruptions during the search. The system's hardware and software are described and the sensitivity of the system is discussed.

THE TRANSIENT UNIVERSE Rene P Breton and Tom Hassall argue that, while radio astronomy has always involved transient phenomena, exploration of this part of the electromagnetic spectrum has been falling behind because of the lack of data. But the advent of a new generation of radio telescopes such as LOFAR, could change that.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) assigns segments of the radio spectrum to categories of users, and specific frequencies within each segment to individual users. Since demand for channel space exceeds supply, the process is complex. The radio spectrum can be compared to a long ruler: the portion from 10-540 kiloHertz has been set aside…

A long-vane stabilized radio frequency resonator for accelerating charged particles and including means defining a radio frequency resonator cavity, a plurality of long vanes mounted in the defining means for dividing the cavity into sections, and means interconnecting opposing ones of the plurality of vanes for stabilizing the resonator.

A radio audience survey of 110 sample geographic clusters in the Santa Barbara, California, area served a twofold purpose: the construction of a demographic profile of audience types according to radio format choices, and the identification and analysis of various audience subgroups. A skip interval technique of these geographic clusters resulted…

We report on extremely high radio flux of BL Lacertae at 43 and 8 GHz. Observations at 43 GHz with the 32 m radio telescope in Noto (Italy) revealed a flux density of 10.5 +/- 0.2 Jy on 2013 April 10.65, while observations at 8 GHz with the 32 m radio telescope in Medicina (Italy) detected a flux density of 8.2 +/- 0.7 Jy on April 12.22. These extremely high radio fluxes show that the radio activity likely correlated to the strong optical, near-infrared, and gamma-ray activity of 2011-2012 (see ATels #4028, #4031, #4155, #4271, #4277, #4349, #4565, #4600), and X-ray activity of late 2012 (ATels #4557, #4627), is far to be exhausted.

The technique of radio astronomy makes it possible for a remote observer to detect the presence of magnetic fields and plasmas in planetary environments. Prior to the flights of the Voyager spacecraft, radio astronomical studies of Jupiter from earth and from earth orbit had correctly predicted the strength and orientation of Jupiter's magnetic field and trapped radiation belts. The Voyager Planetary Radio Astronomy investigations have now provided measurements of the complete spectrum of low frequency radio emissions from both planets. Each Voyager instrument consists of a pair of orthogonal, 10-m, electric monopole antennas which are connected to a step-tuned, superheterodyne receiver operating over the frequency range from 1.2 kHz to 40.5 MHz. The Voyager trajectory provided observations from above both the sunlit and nightside hemispheres of Jupiter. Saturn's nonthermal radio emission has been observed at frequencies as low as 3 kHz and as high as 1.2 MHz.

We report on radio observations of five magnetars and two magnetar candidates carried out at 1950 MHz with the Green Bank Telescope in 2006-2007. The data from these observations were searched for periodic emission and bright single pulses. Also, monitoring observations of magnetar 4U 0142+61 following its 2006 X-ray bursts were obtained. No radio emission was detected for any of our targets. The non-detections allow us to place luminosity upper limits of L{sub 1950} {approx}< 1.60 mJy kpc{sup 2} for periodic emission and L{sub 1950,single} {approx}< 7.6 Jy kpc{sup 2} for single pulse emission. These are the most stringent limits yet for the magnetars observed. The resulting luminosity upper limits together with previous results are discussed, as is the importance of further radio observations of radio-loud and radio-quiet magnetars.

Solar coronal radio bursts are enhancedradio emission excited by energetic electrons accelerated during solar eruptions. Studying these bursts is important for investigating the origin and physical mechanism of energetic particles and further diagnosing coronal parameters. Earlier studies suffered from a lack of simultaneous high-quality imaging data of the radio burst and the eruptive structure in the inner corona. Here we present a study on a complex solar radio eruption consisting of a type II burst and three reversely drifting type III bursts, using simultaneous EUV and radio imaging data. It is found that the type II burst is closely associated with a propagating and evolving CME-driven EUV shock structure, originated initially at the northern shock flank and later transferred to the top part of the shock. This source transfer is coincident with the presence of shock decay and enhancing signatures observed at the corresponding side of the EUV front. The electron energy accelerated by the shock at the flank is estimated to be ˜0.3 c by examining the imaging data of the fast-drifting herringbone structure of the type II burst. The reverse-drifting type III sources are found to be within the ejecta and correlated with a likely reconnection event therein. The implications for further observational studies and relevant space weather forecasting techniques are discussed.

Solar coronal radio bursts are enhancedradio emission excited by energetic electrons accelerated during solar eruptions. Studying these bursts is important for investigating the origin and physical mechanism of energetic particles and further diagnosing coronal parameters. Earlier studies suffered from a lack of simultaneous high-quality imaging data of the radio burst and the eruptive structure in the inner corona. Here we present a study on a complex solar radio eruption consisting of a type II burst and three reversely drifting type III bursts, using simultaneous EUV and radio imaging data. It is found that the type II burst is closely associated with a propagating and evolving CME-driven EUV shock structure, originated initially at the northern shock flank and later transferred to the top part of the shock. This source transfer is coincident with the presence of shock decay and enhancing signatures observed at the corresponding side of the EUV front. The electron energy accelerated by the shock at the flank is estimated to be ∼0.3 c by examining the imaging data of the fast-drifting herringbone structure of the type II burst. The reverse-drifting type III sources are found to be within the ejecta and correlated with a likely reconnection event therein. The implications for further observational studies and relevant space weather forecasting techniques are discussed.

Central galaxies in rich clusters are the sites of cluster cooling flows, with large masses of gas cooling through part of the X-ray band. Many of these galaxies host powerful radio sources. These sources can displace and compress the X-ray gas leading to enhanced cooling and star formation. We observed the bright cooling flow Abell 2626 with a strangely distorted central radio source. We wished to understand the interaction of radio and X-ray thermal plasma, and to determine the dynamical nature of this cluster. One aim was to constrain the source of additional pressure in radio "holes" in the X-ray emission needed to support overlying shells of X-ray gas. We also aimed to study the problem of the lack of kT < 1-2 keV gas in cooling flows by searching for abundance inhomogeneities, heating from the radio source, and excess absorption. We also have a Chandra observation of this cluster. There were problems with the pipeline processing of this data due to a telemetry dropout. We are publishing the Chandra and XMM data together. Delays with the Chandra data have slowed up the publication. At the center of the cluster, there is a complex interaction of the odd, Z-shaped radio source, and the X-ray plasma. However, there are no clear radio bubbles. Also, the cluster SO galaxy IC 5337, which is projected 1.5 arcmin west of the cluster center, has unusual tail-like structures in both the radio and X-ray. It appears to be falling into the cluster center. There is a hot, probably shocked region of gas to the southwest, which is apparently due to the merger of a subcluster in this part of the system. There is also a merging subcluster to the northeast. The axes of these two mergers agrees with a supercluster filament structure.

We present an optically-based study of the alignment between the radio axes and the optical major axes of eight z approximately 0.7 radio galaxies in a 7C sample. The radio galaxies in this sample are approximately 20-times less radio luminous than 3C galaxies at the same redshift, and are significantly less radio-luminous than any other well-defined samples studied to date. Using Nordic Optical Telescope images taken in good seeing conditions at rest-frame wavelengths just longward of the 4000A break, we find a statistically significant alignment effect in the 7C sample. Furthermore, in two cases where the aligned components are well separated from the host we have been able to confirm spectroscopically that they are indeed at the same redshift as the radio galaxy. However, a quantitative analysis of the alignment in this sample and in a corresponding 3C sample from HST (Hubble Space Telescope) archival data indicates that the percentage of aligned flux may be lower and of smaller spatial scale in the 7C sample. Our study suggests that alignments on the 50-kpc scale are probably closely related to the radio luminosity, whereas those on the 15 kpc scale are not. We discuss these results in the context of popular models for the alignment effect.

The radio emission in radio loud quasars (RLQs) originates in a jet carrying relativistic electrons. In radio quiet quasars (RQQs) the radio emission is ˜ 103 times weaker, relative to other bands. Its origin is not clearly established yet, but it is often speculated to arise from a weak jet. Here we show that there is a tight relation between L_R and L_X for RQQs, with L_R/L_X˜ 10-5, based on the optically selected Palomar-Green (PG) quasars, with nearly complete X-ray and radio detections (avoiding biases and selection effects). Coronally active stars also show a tight relation between L_R and L_X with L_R/L_X˜ 10-5 (the Güdel & Benz relation), which together with correlated variability indicates that stellar coronae are magnetically heated. The X-ray emission of quasars most likely originates from a hot accretion disk corona, and since RQQs follow the Güdel & Benz relation, it is natural to associate their radio emission with coronal emission as well. The tight relation between L_R and L_X may simply reflect the equality of accretion disk coronal heating by magnetically generated relativistic electrons (producing L_R), and coronal cooling by Compton scattering (producing L_X). This suggestion can be tested by looking for correlated X-ray and radio variability patterns, such as the Neupert effect, displayed by stellar coronae.

Macroscopic physics are discussed for the case of a disk close to an isolated, magnetized, rotating neutron star that acts as a Faraday disk dynamo, while the disk acts as both a load and a neutral sheet. This sheet allows the polar cap current to return to the neutron star, splitting a dipolar field into two monopolar halves. The dominant energy loss is from the stellar wind torque, and the next contribution is dissipation in the auroral zones, where the current returns to the star in a 5 cm-thick sheet. The disk itself may be a source of visible radiation comparable to that in pulsed radio frequency emission. As the pulsar ages, the disk expands and narrows into a ring which, it is suggested, may lead to a cessation of pulsed emission at periods of a few sec.

The business meeting of Division X in the IAU 2009GA took place in three sessions during the day of August 6, 2009. The meeting, being well attended, started with the approval for the meeting agenda. Then the triennium reports were made in the first session by the president of Division X, Ren-Dong Nan, and by the chairs of three working groups: “Historic Radio Astronomy WG” by Wayne Orchiston, “Astrophysically Important Lines WG” by Masatoshi Ohishi, and “Global VLBI WG” by Tasso Tzioumis (proxy chair appointed by Steven Tingay). Afterwards, a dozen reports from observatories and worldwide significant projects have been presented in the second session. Business meeting of “Interference Mitigation WG” was located in the third session.

The standard model for extragalactic variable radio sources comprises an isotropically expanding plasmoid with frozen magnetic flux and an electron distribution which evolves adiabatically. This model leads to the following relaton between the peak luminosity L (sub nu, m) and the relevant frequency nu(sub m) which are functions of time: L(sub nu,m) is proportional to nu(sub m)(n) where N = (7n + 5)/(4n + 5). In this expression, n is the spectral index in the optically thin part of the spectrum, where L (sub nu) is proportional to nu (-n). For n in the range 0.5 to 1.5, the standard model yields N in the range 1.2 to 1.4. By contrast, analysis of observational data yields estimates of N in a small range about the mean value 0.4, in clear contradiction with the standard model.

A two-element interferometer for monitoring atmospheric phase fluctuations (radio seeing) is presented; this uses the unmodulated beacon signal at 11.715 GHz from a geostationary satellite. The system measures phase differences on the signal received by two small antennas separated by 50 m. The system incorporates the best features from previous designs: a heterodyne phase-lock receiver and an IQ demodulator system. Phase fluctuations measured at this frequency may be extrapolated to millimetric and submillimetric wavelengths since the atmosphere is not dispersive at these frequencies. The instrument has been tested at the Observatory San Pedro Martir (Mexico) at 2800 m above sea level. The final destination of the instrument is Cerro la Negra (Mexico), where the Large Millimeter Telescope is under construction, at an altitude of 4600 m.

The Global Ionosphere Radio Observatory (GIRO) comprises a network of ground-based high-frequency vertical sounding sensors, ionosondes, with instrument installations in 27 countries and a central Lowell GIRO Data Center (LGDC) for data acquisition and assimilation, including 46 real-time data streams as of August 2014. The LGDC implemented a suite of technologies for post-processing, modeling, analysis, and dissemination of the acquired and derived data products, including: (1) IRI-based Real-time Assimilative Model, "IRTAM", that builds and publishes every 15-minutes an updated "global weather" map of the peak density and height in the ionosphere, as well as a map of deviations from the classic IRI climate; (2) Global Assimilative Model of Bottomside Ionosphere Timelines (GAMBIT) Database and Explorer holding 15 years worth of IRTAM computed maps at 15 minute cadence;. (3) 17+ million ionograms and matching ionogram-derived records of URSI-standard ionospheric characteristics and vertical profiles of electron density; (4) 10+ million records of the Doppler Skymaps showing spatial distributions over the GIRO locations and plasma drifts; (5) Data and software for Traveling Ionospheric Disturbance (TID) diagnostics; and (6) HR2006 ray tracing software mated to the "realistic" IRTAM ionosphere. In cooperation with the URSI Ionosonde Network Advisory Group (INAG), the LGDC promotes cooperative agreements with the ionosonde observatories of the world to accept and process real-time data of HF radio monitoring of the ionosphere, and to promote a variety of investigations that benefit from the global-scale, prompt, detailed, and accurate descriptions of the ionospheric variability.

A simple, easy to build and portable radio telescope, called Affordable Small Radio Telescope (ASRT), has been developed by the Radio Physics Laboratory (RPL), a radio astronomy teaching unit associated with the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (TIFR) and Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), which are two premier astronomy institutes in India. ASRT consists of off-the-shelf available Direct to Home television dishes and is easy to assemble. Our design is scalable from simple very low cost telescope to more complex yet moderately costing instrument. ASRT provides a platform for demonstrating radio physics concepts through simple hands-on experiment as well as for carrying out solar monitoring by college/University students. The presentation will highlight the concept of ASRT and the different experiments that can be carried out using it. The solar monitoring observations will be discussed along-with details of methods for calibrating these measurements. The pedagogical usefulness of ASRT in introducing undergraduatephysics students to astrophysics, measurements and analysis methods used in radio astronomy will also be discussed. Use of ASRT in the last three years in the programs of RPL, namely the annual Radio Astronomy Winter School for College students (RAWSC) and Pulsar Observing for Students (POS) is also presented. This year a new program was initiated to form a virtual group of an ASRT community, which will not only share their measurements, but also think of improving the pedagogical usefulness of ASRT by innovative experiments. This initiative is presented with the best practices drawn from our experience in using ASRT as a tool for student training in space sciences. The talk will also point out future ideas in involving a larger body of students in simple radio astronomy experiments with the ASRT, which RPL is likely to nucleate as part of its mandate.

Unified schemes of radio sources, which account for different types of radio active galactic nucleus in terms of anisotropic radio and optical emission, together with different orientations of the ejection axis to the line of sight, have been invoked for many years. Recently, large samples of optical quasars, mainly from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), together with large radio samples, such as Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty cm (FIRST), have become available. These hold the promise of providing more stringent tests of unified schemes but, compared to previous samples, lack high-resolution radio maps. Nevertheless, they have been used to investigate unified schemes, in some cases yielding results which appear inconsistent with such theories. Here we investigate using simulations how the selection effects to which such investigations are subject can influence the conclusions drawn. In particular, we find that the effects of limited resolution do not allow core-dominated radio sources to be fully represented in the samples, that the effects of limited sensitivity systematically exclude some classes of sources and the lack of deep radio data make it difficult to decide to what extent closely separated radio sources are associated. Nevertheless, we conclude that relativistic unified schemes are entirely compatible with the current observational data. For a sample selected from SDSS and FIRST which includes weak-cored triples we find that the equivalent width of the [O III] emission line decreases as core dominance increases, as expected, and also that core-dominated quasars are optically brighter than weak-cored quasars.

Radio Astronomy Explorer (RAE) I data are analyzed to establish characteristics of HF terrestrial radio noise at an altitude of about 6000 km. Time and frequency variations in amplitude of the observed noise well above cosmic noise background are explained on the basis of temporal and spatial variations in ionospheric critical frequency coupled with those in noise source distributions. It is shown that terrestrial radio noise regularly breaks through the ionosphere and reaches RAE with magnitudes 15 dB and more above cosmic noise background, on frequencies above the F-layer critical frequency.

its kinematics must predate the radio source. The ordered motion may be large-scale rotation caused by the accretion of gas from the environment of the radio galaxy or by a merger. Although alternatively the halo may be caused by a massive outflow, we argue that bulk inflow of the emission line gas is inconsistent with the most likely orientation of the radio source. The large velocity-width of the Lyα gas contained within the radio source compared to that of the outer halo suggest a direct interaction of the radio source with the gas. The spatial correlation of enhanced, blue-shifted Lyα emission and the sharp bend of the radio structure suggest that the emission line gas could have deflected the radio jet. The impact of the jet could have accelerated the gas at this position and may have locally enhanced the Lyα emission. Extended faint optical continuum emission is aligned with the principal radio axis, a phenomenon commonly observed in high redshift radio galaxies. This emission does not follow the bending of the radio jet, indicating that, at least in 1243+036, models invoking scattering of continuum radiation from the AGN as the cause of this alignment are favoured.

Ultra-wideband (UWB) ranging radios, an emerging technology that offers precise, short distance, range measurements are investigated as a method to augment carrier-phase GPS positioning. This thesis begins with a discussion of radio-frequency based methods of augmenting high precision GPS and proposes to utilize UWB ranging technology in a tightly-coupled GPS and UWB position estimation filter. This thesis then provides an overview of UWB in the context of ranging applications and assesses the precision and accuracy of UWB ranging from both a theoretical perspective and a practical perspective using real data. Two types of commercially available UWB ranging radios are introduced which are used in testing. Actual ranging accuracy is assessed from line-of-sight testing in benign signal conditions and in outdoor testing with line-of-sight obstructions and strong reflection sources. A tightly-coupled GPS and UWB real-time kinematic (RTK) estimation method is developed and the performance of the system is evaluated in static and kinematic testing. The results of static testing show that the integrated solution provides better accuracy, better ability to resolve integer ambiguities and enhanced fixed ambiguity solution availability compared with GPS alone. The results of kinematic testing demonstrate that UWB errors can be successfully estimated in a real-time filter. In static and kinematic testing in a degraded GPS environment created by artificially inducing a 40° satellite elevation mask, subdecimetre accuracy was maintained. The tightly-coupled system is also tested to survey several external corner points of an eight story building. The tightly-coupled solution is compared to GPS-only, UWB-only, and loosely-coupled solutions. Sub-metre level solutions are maintained using tight-coupling in conditions where the solutions from the other three approaches are either unavailable or unreliable. The thesis also provides a novel and efficient method for deploying UWB

We measure the merger fraction of Type 2 radio-loud and radio-quiet active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z\\gt 1 using new samples. The objects have Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images taken with Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the IR channel. These samples are compared to the 3CR sample of radio galaxies at z\\gt 1 and to a sample of non-active galaxies. We also consider lower redshift radio galaxies with HST observations and previous generation instruments (NICMOS and WFPC2). The full sample spans an unprecedented range in both redshift and AGN luminosity. We perform statistical tests to determine whether the different samples are differently associated with mergers. We find that all (92%-14%+8%) radio-loud galaxies at z\\gt 1 are associated with recent or ongoing merger events. Among the radio-loud population there is no evidence for any dependence of the merger fraction on either redshift or AGN power. For the matched radio-quiet samples, only 38%-15+16 are merging systems. The merger fraction for the sample of non-active galaxies at z\\gt 1 is indistinguishable from radio-quiet objects. This is strong evidence that mergers are the triggering mechanism for the radio-loud AGN phenomenon and the launching of relativistic jets from supermassive black holes (SMBHs). We speculate that major black hole (BH)–BH mergers play a major role in spinning up the central SMBHs in these objects.

One of the outstanding issues concerning extragalactic radio sources is the total duration of their active phase and the possible existence of duty cycles of their nuclear activity. A duty cycle can be recognized if there is a mechanism which preserves the information of past activity for a sufficiently long time after a new activity has started up. If a new cycle starts before the radio lobes created during a former activity period have faded, we can recognize this by the observations of a young radio source embedded in an old relic structure.

Aims: We present a study of five "dying" nearby (z ≤ 0.2) radio galaxies belonging to both the WENSS minisurvey and the B2 bright catalogs WNB1734+6407, WNB1829+6911, WNB1851+5707, B2 0120+33, and B2 1610+29. Methods: These sources have been selected on the basis of their extremely steep broad-band radio spectra, which strongly indicates that either these objects belong to the rare class of dying radio galaxies or we are observing "fossil" radio plasma remaining from a previous instance of nuclear activity. We derive the relative duration of the dying phase from the fit of a synchrotron radiative model to the radio spectra of the sources. Results: The modeling of the integrated spectra and the deep spectral index images obtained with the VLA confirmed that in these sources the central engine has ceased to be active for a significant fraction of their lifetime, although their extended lobes have not yet completely faded away. We found that WNB1851+5707 is in reality composed of two distinct dying galaxies, which appear blended together as a single source in the WENSS. In the cases of WNB1829+6911 and B2 0120+33, the fossil radio lobes are seen in conjunction with a currently active core. A very faint core is also detected in a MERLIN image of WNB1851+5707a, one of the two dying sources composing WNB1851+5707. We found that all sources in our sample are located (at least in projection) at the center of an X-ray emitting cluster. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the duration of the dying phase for a radio source in a cluster can be significantly higher than that of a radio galaxy in the field, although no firm conclusions can be drawn because of the small number statistics involved. The simplest interpretation of the tendency for dying galaxies to be found in clusters is that the low-frequency radio emission from the fading radio lobes lasts longer if their expansion is somewhat reduced or even stopped. Another possibility is that the occurrence of dying

Radio bursts traveling between the Sun and the Earth were tracked by radio astronomy experiments on Helios 1 and 2. A relatively short dipole antenna with a well-defined toroidal reception pattern was flown. The antenna spins in the ecliptic at 60.3 rpm and 2 frequencies are measured in each revolution. The signal analysis determines the strength of the signal, the direction of the source in the ecliptic, and the degree of modulation, and estimates source size. The experiments provide three-dimensional direction finding in space. They extend the radio frequency window beyond what is observable on Earth, and offer a long triangulation baseline.

. Most of the sources that are clearly incompatible with the empirical relation are proplyds that could instead plausibly be thermal radio sources. The newly expanded Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array with its significantly enhanced continuum sensitivity is beginning to provide an ideal tool for addressing this issue. Combined X-ray and radio studies of YSOs using older VLA data are clearly limited by the typically low signal-to-noise of the radio detections, providing insufficient information to disentangle thermal and nonthermal sources.

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In the Fall of 2011, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) participated in the Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS) field experiments held near Flagstaff, Arizona. The objective of the DRATS outing is to provide analog mission testing of candidate technologies for space exploration, especially those technologies applicable to human exploration of extra- terrestrial rocky bodies. These activities are performed at locations with similarities to extra-terrestrial conditions. This report describes the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Dual-Band Radio Communication System which was demonstrated during the 2011 outing. The EVA radio system is designed to transport both voice and telemetry data through a mobile ad hoc wireless network and employs a dual-band radio configuration. Some key characteristics of this system include: 1. Dual-band radio configuration. 2. Intelligent switching between two different capability wireless networks. 3. Self-healing network. 4. Simultaneous data and voice communication.

Observations by the Galileo plasma wave receiver during the first two flybys of Ganymede revealed that this Jovian moon is the source of narrowband electromagnetic radio waves, making it the only satellite in the solar system known to generate non-thermal radio emissions. The emissions are the result of mode-coupling from electrostatic electron cyclotron emissions mu the upper hybrid resonance frequency, similar to non-thermal continuum radiation found at the known magnetized planets.

The explosion of a supernova releases almost instantaneously about 10^{51} ergs of mechanic energy, changing irreversibly the physical and chemical properties of large regions in the galaxies. The stellar ejecta, the nebula resulting from the powerful shock waves, and sometimes a compact stellar remnant, constitute a supernova remnant (SNR). They can radiate their energy across the whole electromagnetic spectrum, but the great majority are radio sources. Almost 70 years after the first detection of radio emission coming from an SNR, great progress has been achieved in the comprehension of their physical characteristics and evolution. We review the present knowledge of different aspects of radio remnants, focusing on sources of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds, where the SNRs can be spatially resolved. We present a brief overview of theoretical background, analyze morphology and polarization properties, and review and critically discuss different methods applied to determine the radio spectrum and distances. The consequences of the interaction between the SNR shocks and the surrounding medium are examined, including the question of whether SNRs can trigger the formation of new stars. Cases of multispectral comparison are presented. A section is devoted to reviewing recent results of radio SNRs in the Magellanic Clouds, with particular emphasis on the radio properties of SN 1987A, an ideal laboratory to investigate dynamical evolution of an SNR in near real time. The review concludes with a summary of issues on radio SNRs that deserve further study, and analysis of the prospects for future research with the latest-generation radio telescopes.

The origins, generation, detection, and interpretation of radio signals are discussed for signals with an assumed random polarization. After defining the basic parameters, the discussion moves to such topics as synchrotron radiation, plasma effects, changes in the electron energy spectrum in the radiating regions, energy loss to ionization, bremsstrahlung, radio astronomical observations of high-energy particles, emission by energetic particles, observation of supernova remnants and pulsars, galactic background continuum radiation, and others.

Actress Jodie Foster, who played a scientist in search of extraterrestrial life in the 1997 film Contact, narrates a new promotional film to reintroduce the public to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's (NRAO) renovated Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico. The 24-minute film, Beyond the Visible, which will air in the VLA Visitor Center, focuses on the operation of the telescope and scientific achievements associated with it.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, radio sky surveys were the center of an intense and public debate -- Big-Bang versus Steady-State cosmology -- the arguments revolving about source counts and statistical interpretations in the face of instrumental complications. The 1965 discovery of the microwave background took the fire from the debate, but left the momentum in place for large-area radio surveys at different frequencies, and for extensive identification/redshift-measurement programs. By the 1970s the data enabled us to start disentangling the different populations of extragalactic radio sources. We could refine our taxonomy, and we could view the possibility of delineating individual cosmic histories and evolutions. We could at least describe a goal to elucidate the birth-life-death cycles of the objects involved 1quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) and radio galaxies: together the 'active galactic nuclei' (AGNs)1 whose unaccountably prodigious energies somehow produce the beautifully aligned radio structures with which we are now familiar. One part of John Bolton's vision was to see how distorted a view of the AGN universe the original long-wavelength surveys provided. One legacy is thus the 'short-wavelength survey' for extragalactic radio sources, which has done so much to balance our picture of the radio sky. And indeed the legacy continues in the form of the immense sky surveys at present under way, complete with their sub-industries of radio-positioning and identification. From these, yet further results are emerging on spatial distribution and the skeleton structure of the universe. It is the purpose of this paper to outline something of this current view of the populations, their differences, similarities and unifying concepts.

This report describes both a general methodology and some specific examples of passive radio receivers. A passive radio receiver uses no direct electrical power but makes sole use of the power available in the radio spectrum. These radio receivers are suitable as low data-rate receivers or passive alerting devices for standard, high power radio receivers. Some zero-power radio architectures exhibit significant improvements in range with the addition of very low power amplifiers or signal processing electronics. These ultra-low power radios are also discussed and compared to the purely zero-power approaches.

We are at the dawn of a new golden age for radio astronomy, with a new generation of facilities under construction and the global community focused on the Square Kilometre Array as its goal for the next decade. These new facilities offer orders of magnitude improvements in survey speed compared to existing radio telescopes and arrays. Furthermore, the study of transient and variable radio sources, and what they can tell us about the extremes of astrophysics as well as the state of the diffuse intervening media, have been embraced as key science projects for these new facilities. In this paper we review the studies of the populations of radio transients made to date, largely based upon archival surveys. Many of these radio transients and variables have been found in the image plane, and their astrophysical origin remains unclear. We take this population and combine it with sensitivity estimates for the next generation arrays to demonstrate that in the coming decade we may find ourselves detecting 10^5 image plane radio transients per year, providing a vast and rich field of research and an almost limitless set of targets for multi-wavelength follow up.

The relationships between radio galaxies and their environment are varied, complex, and evolve with cosmic epoch. Basic questions are what role the environment plays in triggering and fuelling (radio) galaxy activity what the effects of this activity are on its environment, and how radio galaxies and environment evolve. Clearly, this could be the topic of a workshop all in itself and the scope of this review will necessarily be limited. A review of the connections between environment and galaxy activity in general has been given by Heckman. First, I will briefly summarize the relationships between parent galaxy and cluster environments, and radio galaxies. A more detailed discussion of various aspects of this will be given elsewhere by F. Owen, J.0. Burns and R. Perley. I will then discuss the current status of investigations of extended emission-line regions in radio galaxies, again referring elsewhere in this volume for more detailed discussions of some particular aspects (kinematics and ionization mechanisms by K. Meisenheimer; polarization and spectral index lobe asymmetries by G. Pooley). I will conclude with a brief discussion of the current status of observations of high redshift radio galaxies.

Like the comparable AKR radio emissions from earth's magnetosphere, the well-known decametric radio S-bursts from Jupiter, observed in France and Australia at frequencies from 10 to 26 MHz, have been found to exhibit equally spaced discrete spectral components which can be attributed to the adjacent longitudinal oscillation modes of natural radio lasers. Implying sizes of only a few kilometers for the individual radio lasers producing the S-bursts, the frequency spacing of these modes was roughly constant with frequency and about 30 to 50 kHz. Their corresponding temporal spacings, however, varied inversely proportional to the observing frequency, suggesting that the radio lasers producing the S-bursts were expanding uniformly at a rate of about 4 km/s. Presumably caused by the projected motion of Io with respect to the planet, this expansion of the S-burst radio lasers would account for the downward frequency drifts of the S-bursts without the energetic electron bunches which have heretofore always been assumed necessary to account for such behavior.

Fast radio bursts are mysterious transient sources likely located at cosmological distances. The derived brightness temperatures exceed by many orders of magnitude the self-absorption limit of incoherent synchrotron radiation, implying the operation of a coherent emission process. We propose a radiation mechanism for fast radio bursts where the emission arises from collisionless bremsstrahlung in strong plasma turbulence excited by relativistic electron beams. We discuss possible astrophysical scenarios in which this process might operate. The emitting region is a turbulent plasma hit by a relativistic jet, where Langmuir plasma waves produce a concentration of intense electrostatic soliton-like regions (cavitons). The resulting radiation is coherent and, under some physical conditions, can be polarized and have a power-law distribution in energy. We obtain radio luminosities in agreement with the inferred values for fast radio bursts. The time scale of the radio flare in some cases can be extremely fast, of the order of 1 0-3 s . The mechanism we present here can explain the main features of fast radio bursts and is plausible in different astrophysical sources, such as gamma-ray bursts and some active galactic nuclei.

We investigate C IV broad absorption line (BAL) variability within a sample of 46 radio-loud quasars (RLQs), selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)/Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters (FIRST) data to include both core-dominated (39) and lobe-dominated (7) objects. The sample consists primarily of high-ionization BAL quasars, and a substantial fraction have large BAL velocities or equivalent widths; their radio luminosities and radio-loudness values span ˜2.5 orders of magnitude. We have obtained 34 new Hobby-Eberly Telescope spectra of 28 BAL RLQs to compare to earlier SDSS data, and we also incorporate archival coverage (primarily dual-epoch SDSS) for a total set of 78 pairs of equivalent width measurements for 46 BAL RLQs, probing rest-frame time-scales of ˜80-6000 d (median 500 d). In general, only modest changes in the depths of segments of absorption troughs are observed, akin to those seen in prior studies of BAL radio-quiet quasars (RQQs). Also similar to previous findings for RQQs, the RLQs studied here are more likely to display BAL variability on longer rest-frame time-scales. However, typical values of |{Δ}EW| and |{Δ}EW|/ are ˜40 ± 20 per cent lower for BAL RLQs when compared with those of a time-scale-matched sample of BAL RQQs. Optical continuum variability is of similar amplitude in BAL RLQs and BAL RQQs; for both RLQs and RQQs, continuum variability tends to be stronger on longer time-scales. BAL variability in RLQs does not obviously depend upon their radio luminosities or radio-loudness values, but we do find tentative evidence for greater fractional BAL variability within lobe-dominated RLQs. Enhanced BAL variability within more edge-on (lobe-dominated) RLQs supports some geometrical dependence to the outflow structure.

We describe an inquiry-based instructional unit on information content in radio waves, created in the summer of 2013 as part of a MIT Haystack Observatory (Westford, MA) NSF Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program. This topic is current and highly relevant, addressing science and technical aspects from radio astronomy, geodesy, and atmospheric research areas as well as Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Projects and activities range from simple classroom demonstrations and group investigations, to long term research projects incorporating data acquisition from both student-built instrumentation as well as online databases. Each of the core lessons is applied to one of the primary research centers at Haystack through an inquiry project that builds on previously developed units through the MIT Haystack RET program. In radio astronomy, students investigate the application of a simple and inexpensive software defined radio chip (RTL-SDR) for use in systems implementing a small and very small radio telescope (SRT and VSRT). Both of these systems allow students to explore fundamental principles of radio waves and interferometry as applied to radio astronomy. In ionospheric research, students track solar storms from the initial coronal mass ejection (using Solar Dynamics Observatory images) to the resulting variability in total electron density concentrations using data from the community standard Madrigal distributed database system maintained by MIT Haystack. Finally, students get to explore very long-baseline interferometry as it is used in geodetic studies by measuring crustal plate displacements over time. Alignment to NextGen standards is provided for each lesson and activity with emphasis on HS-PS4 'Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer'.

Context. Infrared-faint radio sources (IFRS) are objects that have flux densities of several mJy at 1.4 GHz, but that are invisible at 3.6 μm when using sensitive Spitzer observations with μJy sensitivities. Their nature is unclear and difficult to investigate since they are only visible in the radio. Aims: High-resolution radio images and comprehensive spectral coverage can yield constraints on the emission mechanisms of IFRS and can give hints to similarities with known objects. Methods: We imaged a sample of 17 IFRS at 4.8 GHz and 8.6 GHz with the Australia Telescope Compact Array to determine the structures on arcsecond scales. We added radio data from other observing projects and from the literature to obtain broad-band radio spectra. Results: We find that the sources in our sample are either resolved out at the higher frequencies or are compact at resolutions of a few arcsec, which implies that they are smaller than a typical galaxy. The spectra of IFRS are remarkably steep, with a median spectral index of -1.4 and a prominent lack of spectral indices larger than -0.7. We also find that, given the IR non-detections, the ratio of 1.4 GHz flux density to 3.6 μm flux density is very high, and this puts them into the same regime as high-redshift radio galaxies. Conclusions: The evidence that IFRS are predominantly high-redshift sources driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) is strong, even though not all IFRS may be caused by the same phenomenon. Compared to the rare and painstakingly collected high-redshift radio galaxies, IFRS appear to be much more abundant, but less luminous, AGN-driven galaxies at similar cosmological distances.

By the early 1950s radio astronomers in England and Australia had assembled a handful of catalogues giving flux densities (at 100 MHz) and positions for a total of about 200 radio sources. But only a half dozen of these sources had suggested optical identifications and there raged a debate as to whether the radio sources as a whole were galactic or extragalactic. Furthermore, what was the relationship between these discrete radio sources and the strong galactic background radiation? Could a consistent model be constructed in which the background was the integrated radiation from the weaker members of the detected population? This paper aims to convey the uncertainty of astronomers in 1953. The primary data emanated from the surveys of Ryle, Smith and Elsmore (1950), Bolton, Stanley and Slee (1950), Mills (1952), and Hanbury Brown and Hazard (1953). Quoted position uncertainties were typically 0.5 to 2 degrees; even more discouraging, in overlapping regions the surveys seldom agreed. Optical identifications were rare and of varying degrees of acceptance, and in any case were about evenly split between galaxies (e.g., M31, Cyg A, Vir A) and galactic objects (e.g., Tau A = the Crab nebula, Cas A). And why were so many bright galaxies and gaseous nebulae not detected in the radio? Were there two classes of source, as suggested by Bernard Mills? If the bulk of the sources were extragalactic, what was their source of prodigious radio luminosity and why was it so much larger than the Milky Way's? If the background consisted of radio stars with a Population II distribution, was there also an isotropic extragalactic background component, as modelled by Jan Oort and Gart Westerhout (1950)? What in fact was the radiation mechanism for the sources and the background - free-free (but of what optical thickness?), synchrotron (but did the cosmic ray electrons exist?), or something else?

We study the characteristics of nonthermal radio emission associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) observed by STEREO, SOHO, and Wind spacecraft. In particular, we examine three backside CMEs associated with type II radio bursts at frequencies below 16 MHz. These bursts are known to be excellent indicators of solar energetic particle events. We use the universal drift rate spectrum of type II radio bursts and the inferred density scale heights in the corona and interplanetary medium o estimate the speed of the shock waves that produce the type II radio bursts. We find that the radio bursts can provide an accurate estimate of the CME speeds. We consider three backside events and a cannibalism event to show the usefulness of radio dynamic spectrum in inferring CME kinematics. We use radio direction finding technique to show that CME-CME interaction results in enhanced nonthermal radio emission. The radio data also provide constraints on the particle acceleration mechanisms and the reason for the energetic particles observed at wide-ranging longitudes. Finally we infer the shape and extent of the shock associated with one of the biggest solar energetic particle events in the space era.

We study the effects of radio jets on galaxies in their vicinity (satellites) and the role of satellites in triggering radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The study compares the aggregate properties of satellites of a sample of 7220 radio AGNs at z < 0.3 (identified by Best and Heckman from the SDSS and NVSS+FIRST surveys) to the satellites of a control sample of radio-quiet galaxies, which are matched in redshift, color, luminosity, and axis ratio, as well as by environment type: field galaxies, cluster members, and brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). Remarkably, we find that radio AGNs exhibit on average a 50% excess (17σ significance) in the number of satellites within 100 kpc even though the cluster membership was controlled (e.g., radio BCGs have more satellites than radio-quiet BCGs, etc.). Satellite excess is not confirmed for high-excitation sources, which are only 2% of radio AGN. Extra satellites may be responsible for raising the probability for hot gas AGN accretion via tidal effects or may otherwise enhance the intensity or duration of the radio-emitting phase. Furthermore, we find that the incidence of radio AGNs among potential hosts (massive ellipticals) is similar for field galaxies and for non-BCG cluster members, suggesting that AGN fueling depends primarily on conditions in the host halo rather than the parent, cluster halo. Regarding feedback, we find that radio AGNs, either high or low excitation, have no detectable effect on star formation in their satellites, as neither induced star formation nor star formation quenching is present in more than ∼1% of radio AGN.

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is an enhancement of the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina. Covering about 17km2, AERA is the world-largest antenna array for cosmic-ray observation. It consists of more than 150 antenna stations detecting the radio signal emitted by air showers, i.e., cascades of secondary particles caused by primary cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere. At the beginning, technical goals had been in focus: first of all, the successful demonstration that a large-scale antenna array consisting of autonomous stations is feasible. Moreover, techniques for calibration of the antennas and time calibration of the array have been developed, as well as special software for the data analysis. Meanwhile physics goals come into focus. At the Pierre Auger Observatory air showers are simultaneously detected by several detector systems, in particular water-Cherenkov detectors at the surface, underground muon detectors, and fluorescence telescopes, which enables cross-calibration of different detection techniques. For the direction and energy of air showers, the precision achieved by AERA is already competitive; for the type of primary particle, several methods are tested and optimized. By combining AERA with the particle detectors we aim for a better understanding of cosmic rays in the energy range from approximately 0.3 to 10 EeV, i.e., significantly higher energies than preceding radio arrays.

In the frame of the preparation of the NASA/JUNO and ESA/JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer) missions, and the development of a planetary sciences virtual observatory (VO), we are proposing a new set of tools directed to data providers as well as users, in order to ease data sharing and discovery. We will focus on ground based planetary radio observations (thus mainly Jupiter radio emissions), trying for instance to enhance the temporal coverage of jovian decametric emission. The data service we will be using is EPN-TAP, a planetary science data access protocol developed by Europlanet-VESPA (Virtual European Solar and Planetary Access). This protocol is derived from IVOA (International Virtual Observatory Alliance) standards. The Jupiter Routine Observations from the Nancay Decameter Array are already shared on the planetary science VO using this protocol, as well as data from the Iitate Low Frquency Radio Antenna, in Japan. Amateur radio data from the RadioJOVE project is also available. The attached figure shows data from those three providers. We will first introduce the VO tools and concepts of interest for the planetary radioastronomy community. We will then present the various data formats now used for such data services, as well as their associated metadata. We will finally show various prototypical tools that make use of this shared datasets.

A direct extraction method of tumor response based on ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) is proposed for early breast cancer detection by ultra-wide band (UWB) microwave imaging. With this approach, the image reconstruction for the tumor detection can be realized with only extracted signals from as-detected waveforms. The calibration process executed in the previous research for obtaining reference waveforms which stand for signals detected from the tumor-free model is not required. The correctness of the method is testified by successfully detecting a 4 mm tumor located inside the glandular region in one breast model and by the model located at the interface between the gland and the fat, respectively. The reliability of the method is checked by distinguishing a tumor buried in the glandular tissue whose dielectric constant is 35. The feasibility of the method is confirmed by showing the correct tumor information in both simulation results and experimental results for the realistic 3-D printed breast phantom. PMID:26552095

A theoretical model is proposed to explain the control of Io-related radio emissions by Jupiter's rotational phase. The model is based on the hypothesis that the radio emissions are generated by Birkeland currents flowing between Io and the Jovian ionosphere. Specifically, it is suggested that the precipitation of radiation-belt electrons within a certain range of Jovian longitudes produces a restricted region of enhanced ionization and correspondingly enhanced conductivity in Jupiter's ionosphere and that the Io-Jupiter Birkeland current and the associated radio emissions are dramatically increased when Io's flux tube encounters this sector of enhanced ionization in Jupiter's ionosphere. The magnitude of the current is found to be about 100,000 A at most Jovian longitudes because of ionospheric resistance. It is estimated that within the favored longitudinal sector electron precipitation produces an enhancement of this current by one to three orders of magnitude. The model predictions are compared with observations made during the Pioneer 10 and 11 flybys, and satisfactory agreement is obtained.

This chapter describes the functions of a system proposed for the music hit recommendation from social network data base. This system carries out the automatic collection, evaluation and rating of music reviewers and the possibility for listeners to rate musical hits and recommendations deduced from auditor's profiles in the form of regional Internet radio. First, the system searches and retrieves probable music reviews from the Internet. Subsequently, the system carries out an evaluation and rating of those reviews. From this list of music hits, the system directly allows notation from our application. Finally, the system automatically creates the record list diffused each day depending on the region, the year season, the day hours and the age of listeners. Our system uses linguistics and statistic methods for classifying music opinions and data mining techniques for recommendation part needed for recorded list creation. The principal task is the creation of popular intelligent radio adaptive on auditor's age and region - IA-Regional-Radio.

Comparison of 8.4 GHz radio images of a sample of eleven, early-type Seyfert galaxies with previous observations reveals possible variation in the nuclear radio flux density in five of them over a seven year period. Four Seyferts (NGC 2110, NGC 3081, MCG -6-30-15, and NGC 5273) show a decline in their 8.4 GHz nuclear flux density between 1992 and 1999, while one (NGC 4117) shows an increase; the flux densities of the remaining six Seyferts (Mrk 607, NGC 1386, Mrk 620, NGC 3516, NGC 4968, and NGC 7465) have remained constant over this period. New images of MCG -5-23-16 are also presented. We find no correlation between radio variability and nuclear radio luminosity or Seyfert nuclear type, although the sample is small and dominated by type 2 Seyferts. Instead, a possible correlation between the presence of nuclear radio variability and the absence of hundred parsec-scale radio emission is seen, with four out of five marginally resolved or unresolved nuclei showing a change in nuclear flux density, while five out of six extended sources show no nuclear variability despite having unresolved nuclear sources. NGC 2110 is the only source in our sample with significant extended radio structure and strong nuclear variability ({approx}38% decline in nuclear flux density over seven years). The observed nuclear flux variability indicates significant changes are likely to have occurred in the structure of the nucleus on scales smaller than the VLA beam size (i.e., within the central {approx}0.''1 (15 pc)), between the two epochs, possibly due to the appearance and fading of new components or shocks in the jet, consistent with previous detection of subparsec-scale nuclear structure in this Seyfert. Our results suggest that all Seyferts may exhibit variation in their nuclear radio flux density at 8.4 GHz, but that variability is more easily recognized in compact sources in which emission from the variable nucleus is not diluted by unresolved, constant flux density radio jet

Multifrequency images of total and polarized radio continuum emission from the two high redshift radio galaxies 0902+343 (z = 3.40) and 0647+415 (4C 41.17, z = 3.80) are presented. These images represent the most sensitive polarimetric study of high redshift ratio galaxies to date. The emission from both galaxies is substantially polarized, up to 30% in some regions, and both sources sit behind deep 'Faraday screens,' producing large rotation measures, over 10(exp 3) rad/sq. m in magnitude, and large rotation measure gradients across the sources. Such large rotation measures provide further evidence that high redshift radio galaxies are situated in very dense environments. Drawing the analogy to a class of low redshift powerful radio galaxies with similarly large rotation measures, we suggest that 0902+343 and 0647+415 are situated at the centers of dense, x-ray 'colling flow' clusters, and that the cluster gas is substantially magnetized. The remarkable similarity between the optical and radio morphologies of 0647+415 on scales as small as 0.1 sec is presented. We consider, and reject, both synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation as possible sources of the optical emission. We also consider both scattering of light out of a 'cone' of radiation from an obscured nucleus, and jet-induced star formation, and find that both models encounter difficulties in explaining this remarkably close radio-optical alignment. High resolution spectral index images reveal compact, flat spectrum components in both sources. We suggest that these components are the active nuclei of the galaxies. Lastly, high resolution images of 0902+343 show that the southernmost component forms a 'ring' of 0.2 sec radius. We discuss the possibility that this ring is the result of gravitational lensing, along the lines proposed by Kochanek & Lawrence (1990).

The interferer - victim scenario is described for the case of industrial interference affecting radio astronomical observatories. The sensitivity of radio astronomical receivers and their interference limits are outlined. EMC above 30 MHz is a serious problem for Radio Astronomy. Interferer (CISPR) and victim (ITU-R RA 769) standards are not harmonised. The emissions from the interferer and their spectral characteristics are not defined sufficiently well by CISPR standards. The required minimum coupling losses (MCL) between an industrial device and radio astronomical antenna depends on device properties but is shown to exceed 140 dB in most cases. Spatial separation of a few km is insufficient on its own, the terrain must shield > 30-40 dB, additional mitigations such as extra shielding or suppression of high frequency emissions may be necessary. A case by case compatibility analysis and tailored EMC measures are required for individual installations. Aggregation of many weak rfi emitters can become serious problem. If deployment densities are high enough, the emission constraints can even exceed those for a single interferer at a short distance from the radio observatory. Compatibility studies must account not only for the single interferer but also for many widely distributed interference sources.

We present the radio-optical imaging of ATLBS, a sensitive radio survey (Subrahmanyan et al. 2010). The primary aim of the ATLBS survey is to image low-power radio sources which form the bulk of the radio source population to moderately high red-shifts ( z ˜ 1.0). The accompanying multiband optical and near infra-red observations provide information about the hosts and environments of the radio sources. We give here details of the imaging of the radio data and optical data for the ATLBS survey.

Jupiter has now been observed over 24 octaves of the radio spectrum, from about 0.01 MHz to 300,000 MHz. Its radio emissions fill the entire spectral region where interplanetary electromagnetic propagation is possible at wavelengths longer than infrared. Three distinct types of radiation are responsible for this radio spectrum. Thermal emission from the atmosphere accounts for virtually all the radiation at the high frequency end. Synchrotron emission from the trapped high-energy particle belt deep within the inner magnetosphere is the dominant spectral component from about 4000 to 40 MHz. The third class of radiation consists of several distinct components of sporadic low frequency emission below 40 MHz. The decimeter wavelength emission is considered, taking into account the discovery of synchrotron emission, radiation by high-energy electrons in a magnetic field, and the present status of Jovian synchrotron phenomenology. Attention is also given to the decameter and hectometer wavelength emission, and emissions at kilometric wavelengths.

The absolute energy distributions from 3200 to 10,000 A of 26 3CR radio galaxies are determined on the basis of spectrophotometric observations with the multichannel spectrometer of the Hale 5-m telescope. It is found that there is a continuous range of emission-line characteristics and UV excess in the sample and that a strong correlation exists between the nonthermal component luminosity and hydrogen emission, which favors the hypothesis that direct photoionization by the nuclear radiation is responsible for the emission lines observed. Calculations are performed which show that in almost all cases the power-law component model provides sufficient UV photons to produce the observed H-beta line. Indications are obtained that the optical nuclear component is related to the radio emission in some complex manner and that strong radio galaxies tend to be accompanied by UV excess and emission lines.

A field demonstration of in situ radio frequency heating was performed at the Savannah River Site (SRS) as part of the US Department of Energy-Office of Technology Development`s Integrated Demonstration. The objective of the demonstration was to investigate the effectiveness of in situ radio frequency (RF) heating as an enhancement to vacuum extraction of residual solvents (primarily trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene) held in vadose zone clay deposits. Conventional soil vacuum extraction techniques are mass transfer limited because of the low permeabilities of the clays. By selectively heating the clays to temperatures at or above 100{degrees}C, the release or transport of the solvent vapors will be enhanced as a result of several factors including an increase in the contaminant vapor pressure and diffusivity and an increase in the effective permeability of the formation with the release of water vapor.

As NASA embarks upon developing the Next-Generation Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) Radio for deep space exploration, the demands on EVA battery life will substantially increase. The number of modes and frequency bands required will continue to grow in order to enable efficient and complex multi-mode operations including communications, navigation, and tracking applications. Whether conducting astronaut excursions, communicating to soldiers, or first responders responding to emergency hazards, NASA has developed an innovative, affordable, miniaturized, power-efficient software defined radio that offers unprecedented power-efficient flexibility. This lightweight, programmable, S-band, multi-service, frequency- agile EVA software defined radio (SDR) supports data, telemetry, voice, and both standard and high-definition video. Features include a modular design, an easily scalable architecture, and the EVA SDR allows for both stationary and mobile battery powered handheld operations. Currently, the radio is equipped with an S-band RF section. However, its scalable architecture can accommodate multiple RF sections simultaneously to cover multiple frequency bands. The EVA SDR also supports multiple network protocols. It currently implements a Hybrid Mesh Network based on the 802.11s open standard protocol. The radio targets RF channel data rates up to 20 Mbps and can be equipped with a real-time operating system (RTOS) that can be switched off for power-aware applications. The EVA SDR's modular design permits implementation of the same hardware at all Network Nodes concept. This approach assures the portability of the same software into any radio in the system. It also brings several benefits to the entire system including reducing system maintenance, system complexity, and development cost.

Signal Hill, California-based XCOM Wireless Inc. developed radio frequency micromachine (RF MEMS) relays with a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract through NASA?s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In order to improve satellite communication systems, XCOM produced wireless RF MEMS relays and tunable capacitors that use metal-to-metal contact and have the potential to outperform most semiconductor technologies while using less power. These relays are used in high-frequency test equipment and instrumentation, where increased speed can mean significant cost savings. Applications now also include mainstream wireless applications and greatly improved tactical radios.

We explore the low radio-frequency properties of the MOJAVE 1 blazar sample using the LOFAR Multi-Frequency Snapshot Sky Survey (MSSS). We find the characteristically flat blazar spectrum to extend down to the LOFAR bands, demonstrating that the emission at these low radio frequencies is still dominated by relativistically beamed emission. As most sources remain unresolved at the MSSS angular resolution, we are reimaging these data using LOFAR baselines beyond the standard MSSS uv-range resulting in an angular resolution of ~24 arcsec. We present first LOFAR images of MOJAVE sources from this project.

Operation of the Astronomical Radio Interferometric Earth Surveying (ARIES) in a proof of concept mode is discussed. Accuracy demonstrations over a short baseline, a 180 km baseline, and a 380 km baseline are documented. Use of ARIES in the Sea Slope Experiment of the National Geodetic Survey to study the apparent differences between oceanographic and geodetic leveling determinations of the sea surface along the Pacific Coast is described. Intergration of the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System and a concept called SERIES (Satellite Emission Radio Interferometric Earth Surveying) is briefly reviewed.

We have defined a complete sample of radio galaxies chosen from Abell's northern catalog consisting of all clusters with measured redshifts < 0.09. This sample consists of nearly 300 clusters. A multiwavelength survey including optical CCD R-Band imaging, optical spectroscopy, and VLA 20 cm radio maps has been compiled. I have used this database to study the optical/radio properties of radio galaxies in the cluster environment. In particular, optical properties have been compared to a radio-quiet selected sample to look for optical signatures which may distinguish radio galaxies from normal radio-quiet ellipticals. The correlations between radio morphology and galaxy type, the optical dependence of the FR I/II break, and the univariate and bivariate luminosity functions have been examined for this sample. This study is aimed at understanding radio galaxies as a population and examining their status in the AGN heirarchy. The results of this work will be applied to models of radio source evolution. The results from the optical data analysis suggest that radio galaxies, as a class, cannot be distinguished from non-radio selected elliptical galaxies. The magnitude/size relationship, the surface-brightness profiles, the fundamental plane, and the intrinsic shape of the radio galaxies are consistent between our radio galaxy and control sample. The radio galaxies also trace the elliptical galaxy optical luminosity function in clusters very well; with many more L(*) galaxies than brightest cluster members. Combined with the results of the spectroscopy, the data are consistent with the idea that all elliptical galaxies may at some point in their lifetimes become radio sources. In conclusion, I present a new observational picture for radio galaxies and discuss the important properties which may determine the evolution of individual sources.

An IAEA Technical Meeting on Techniques for IAEA Verification of Enrichment Activities identified 'smart tags' as a technology that should be assessed for tracking and locating UF6 cylinders. Although there is vast commercial industry working on RFID systems, the vulnerabilities of commercial products are only beginning to emerge. Most of the commercially off-the-shelf (COTS) RFID systems operate in very narrow frequency bands, making them vulnerable to detection, jamming and tampering and also presenting difficulties when used around metals (i.e. UF6 cylinders). Commercial passive RFID tags have short range, while active RFID tags that provide long ranges have limited lifetimes. There are also some concerns with the introduction of strong (narrowband) radio frequency signals around radioactive and nuclear materials. Considering the shortcomings of commercial RFID systems, in their current form, they do not offer a promising solution for continuous monitoring and tracking of UF6 cylinders. In this paper, we identify the key challenges faced by commercial RFID systems for monitoring UF6 cylinders, and introduce an ultra-wideband approach for tag/reader communications that addresses most of the identified challenges for IAEA safeguards applications.

This paper focuses on the feasibility of tracking the chest wall movement of a human subject during respiration from the waveforms recorded using an impulse-radio (IR) ultra-wideband radar. The paper describes the signal processing to estimate sleep apnea detection and breathing rate. Some techniques to solve several problems in these types of measurements, such as the clutter suppression, body movement and body orientation detection are described. Clutter suppression is achieved using a moving averaging filter to dynamically estimate it. The artifacts caused by body movements are removed using a threshold method before analyzing the breathing signal. The motion is detected using the time delay that maximizes the received signal after a clutter removing algorithm is applied. The periods in which the standard deviations of the time delay exceed a threshold are considered macro-movements and they are neglected. The sleep apnea intervals are detected when the breathing signal is below a threshold. The breathing rate is determined from the robust spectrum estimation based on Lomb periodogram algorithm. On the other hand the breathing signal amplitude depends on the body orientation respect to the antennas, and this could be a problem. In this case, in order to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio, multiple sensors are proposed to ensure that the backscattered signal can be detected by at least one sensor, regardless of the direction the human subject is facing. The feasibility of the system is compared with signals recorded by a microphone. PMID:24514883

This document contains the NASA architecture standard for software defined radios used in space- and ground-based platforms to enable commonality among radio developments to enhance capability and services while reducing mission and programmatic risk. Transceivers (or transponders) with functionality primarily defined in software (e.g., firmware) have the ability to change their functional behavior through software alone. This radio architecture standard offers value by employing common waveform software interfaces, method of instantiation, operation, and testing among different compliant hardware and software products. These common interfaces within the architecture abstract application software from the underlying hardware to enable technology insertion independently at either the software or hardware layer.

Our understanding of fast radio bursts -- intense pulses of radio waves -- and their use as cosmic probes promises to be transformed now that one burst has been associated with a galaxy of known distance from Earth. See Letter p.453

A radio frequency power load and associated method. A radio frequency power load apparatus includes a container and a fluid having an ion source therein, the fluid being contained in the container. Two conductors are immersed in the fluid. A radio frequency transmission system includes a radio frequency transmitter, a radio frequency amplifier connected to the transmitter and a radio frequency power load apparatus connected to the amplifier. The apparatus includes a fluid having an ion source therein, and two conductors immersed in the fluid. A method of dissipating power generated by a radio frequency transmission system includes the steps of: immersing two conductors of a radio frequency power load apparatus in a fluid having an ion source therein; and connecting the apparatus to an amplifier of the transmission system.

The study of stellar flares in the radio regime provides a nearly unique observational perspective, as the emission generally arises from the particle acceleration region. Continuum and spectral studies of radio burst emission for several classes of stars are reviewed, and some preliminary connections with the quiescent radio emission from flare stars are made. Further, the radio observations are placed in a broader observational context provided by X-ray, UV, and optical observations.

Recent progress in planetary radio astronomy is reviewed, where the most significant advances have come from spacecraft observations. The low-frequency radio spectra of the earth, Jupiter, and Saturn are compared, and the striking similarity in shapes is noted. New radio data are examined which provide a way to compare the magnetic field strengths of the planets. More detailed information on the radio structures of Jupiter and Saturn, and possibly on Uranus, is expected from the 1977 Mariner Jupiter-Saturn mission.

In keeping with the overarching RadioActive101 (RA101) spirit and ethos, this report is the product of collaborative and joined-up thinking from within the European consortium spread across five countries. As such, it is not simply a single voice reporting on the experiences and knowledge gained during the project. Rather it is a range of…

To examine the production of programing material in a radio newsroom, a study was undertaken of the sources presented to the newsroom, of sources within the sources, of sources actively sought by the news staff, of degrees of processing of news items, and of the sources comprising the news output. Information in each of these areas was collected…

A system for detecting meteors by radio is described which is simple and reliable, and thought to be suitable as a science fair project. There is a relatively detailed discussion of the various factors involved in such a project, along with some typical results to indicate the kind of data that is possible.

Many theorists in the 1950's and 1960's thought that mass communications media would be a major factor in integrating and modernizing developing countries. International organizations and Western governments supported educational programs on sanitation and agriculture technology for developing countries. However, Western technology did not suit the rural areas of the developing world. The programs often did not reach the people who needed them the most, but only the educated few. The Catholic church has developed a radio network in Colombia that combines commercial and cultural or religious programs. In addition, 42 church organizations are producing radio programs in Latin America. Most of these programs have not been successful in formal education in history, health care, and agriculture technology. This indicates that radio may not be a good medium for scientific information; audiences don't listen often enough and concentrate adequately to gain from this kind of teaching. It can, however, be effective in spreading cultural information and voicing opinions and views. Educational radio programming is useful when the subject matter is closely linked to specific problems in the community. It must be expressed in the terms of the local audience, as in the rural areas of Latin America. Presentations should not be in the teacher format but in forums, dramas, and documentary reports, and delivered in the local language. PMID:12282828

The Education Development Center in Bolivia is developing and testing a new application for interactive radio instruction (IRI) to teach health in primary schools. The project is funded by USAID and has been undertaken to help the Bolivian government include health education in primary schools as part of a strategy to reduce child mortality. Each radio health program will be broadcast weekly for school children in twenty-minute segments. The broadcasts and complementary post-broadcast activities will give special emphasis to child survival topics such as oral rehydration therapy and nutrition. Special features include IRI scripts which simulate interaction between the radio teacher and the students, new topics introduced in a systematic way engaging students in problem-solving activities, and extensive oral and written student participation. Complementary IRI program materials will include take-home exercises designed to involve family participation, and teachers' guides to provide teachers with practical hands-on activities to strengthen children's understanding of basic health concepts. Short, in-service training sessions will prepare teachers to facilitate radio classes and carry out post-broadcast activities with students. The potential of IRI to improve student and teacher understanding of health and nutrition is only beginning to be recognized. PMID:12346418

Notes that at Australia's Special Broadcasting Services Radio, workplace training is an essential requirement for on-air staff but a degree in journalism or communications is an enormous advantage. Describes several in-house accredited competency-based modules in journalism and broadcasting. (RS)

It is difficult to obtain reliable data on the nature of the audience for international broadcast programs in Asia (e.g., those beamed by the Voice of America or Radio Japan). However, analysis of listener mail and some survey research have provided a fairly clear profile of the audience: young (ages 15-34), well educated, urban, male (but with a…

Radio history continues to be made at the NASA Lewis Research Center with the beginning of phase two of Digital Audio Radio testing conducted by the Consumer Electronic Manufacturers Association (a sector of the Electronic Industries Association and the National Radio Systems Committee) and cosponsored by the Electronic Industries Association and the National Association of Broadcasters. The bulk of the field testing of the four systems should be complete by the end of October 1996, with results available soon thereafter. Lewis hosted phase one of the testing process, which included laboratory testing of seven proposed digital audio radio systems and modes (see the following table). Two of the proposed systems operate in two modes, thus making a total of nine systems for testing. These nine systems are divided into the following types of transmission: in-band on channel (IBOC), in-band adjacent channel (IBAC), and new bands - the L-band (1452 to 1492 MHz) and the S-band (2310 to 2360 MHz).

Systems and methods are described for hybrid spread spectrum radio systems. A method, includes receiving a hybrid spread spectrum signal including: fast frequency hopping demodulating and direct sequence demodulating a direct sequence spread spectrum signal, wherein multiple frequency hops occur within a single data-bit time and each bit is represented by chip transmissions at multiple frequencies.

Fast radio bursts are millisecond-duration astronomical radio pulses of unknown physical origin that appear to come from extragalactic distances. Previous follow-up observations have failed to find additional bursts at the same dispersion measure (that is, the integrated column density of free electrons between source and telescope) and sky position as the original detections. The apparent non-repeating nature of these bursts has led to the suggestion that they originate in cataclysmic events. Here we report observations of ten additional bursts from the direction of the fast radio burst FRB 121102. These bursts have dispersion measures and sky positions consistent with the original burst. This unambiguously identifies FRB 121102 as repeating and demonstrates that its source survives the energetic events that cause the bursts. Additionally, the bursts from FRB 121102 show a wide range of spectral shapes that appear to be predominantly intrinsic to the source and which vary on timescales of minutes or less. Although there may be multiple physical origins for the population of fast radio bursts, these repeat bursts with high dispersion measure and variable spectra specifically seen from the direction of FRB 121102 support an origin in a young, highly magnetized, extragalactic neutron star.

Radio frequency energy was investigated as a nonthermal alternative to thermal pasteurization. Two RF power supply systems were assembled and provided frequencies in the range of 20 kHz to 27 MHz. Electric field strengths of 14 to 30 kV/cm were applied to suspensions of Saccharomyces cerevisiae i...

This dictionary presents definitions of both the well-established terms and many new ones that have come into use with the advances that have taken place in the fields of radio and television. In many cases extended definitions are given in order to describe briefly elementary principles and circuits, while newer and more complex devices and…

This study determined the effectiveness of the use of radio as a means of providing immediate feedback on student counselors in a practicum setting. Using a non-equivalent group experimental design, 10 experimental subjects were compared to 10 control subjects with respect to counselor effectiveness. The experimental subjects were given immediate…

What social studies project challenges students with interdisciplinary learning, engages their various abilities and learning styles, offers them the opportunity for collaborative work-and encourages them to speak in strange voices? The answer is an eighth grade radio drama project. For most of the month of March 2004, the entire eighth grade at…

Fast radio bursts are millisecond-duration astronomical radio pulses of unknown physical origin that appear to come from extragalactic distances. Previous follow-up observations have failed to find additional bursts at the same dispersion measure (that is, the integrated column density of free electrons between source and telescope) and sky position as the original detections. The apparent non-repeating nature of these bursts has led to the suggestion that they originate in cataclysmic events. Here we report observations of ten additional bursts from the direction of the fast radio burst FRB 121102. These bursts have dispersion measures and sky positions consistent with the original burst. This unambiguously identifies FRB 121102 as repeating and demonstrates that its source survives the energetic events that cause the bursts. Additionally, the bursts from FRB 121102 show a wide range of spectral shapes that appear to be predominantly intrinsic to the source and which vary on timescales of minutes or less. Although there may be multiple physical origins for the population of fast radio bursts, these repeat bursts with high dispersion measure and variable spectra specifically seen from the direction of FRB 121102 support an origin in a young, highly magnetized, extragalactic neutron star. PMID:26934226

One of the interesting issues in our understanding of active galactic nuclei is the duration of their active phase and whether such activity is episodic. In this paper we summarize our recent results on episodic activity in radio galaxies obtained with the GMRT and the VLA.

The Kashima 34-m radio telescope has been continuously operated and maintained by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) as a facility of the Kashima Space Technology Center (KSTC) in Japan. This brief report summarizes the status of this telescope, the staff, and activities during 2012.

In this paper, we present a case study of Low Frequency Radio Experiment (LORE) payload to probe the corona and the solar disturbances at solar offsets greater than 2 solar radii, i.e., at frequencies below 30 MHz. The LORE can be complimentary to the planned Indian solar mission, “Aditya-L1” and its other payloads as well as synergistic to ground-based interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations, which are routinely carried out by the Ooty Radio Telescope. We discuss the baseline design and technical details of the proposed LORE and its particular suitability for providing measurements on the detailed time and frequency structure of fast drifting type-III and slow drifting type-II radio bursts with unprecedented time and frequency resolutions. We also brief the gonio-polarimetry, which is possible with better-designed antennas and state-of-the-art electronics, employing FPGAs and an intelligent data management system. These would enable us to make a wide range of studies, such as nonlinear plasma processes in the Sun-Earth distance, in-situ radio emission from coronal mass ejections (CMEs), interplanetary CME driven shocks, nature of ICMEs driving decelerating IP shocks and space weather effects of solar wind interaction regions.

High and ultra-high energy cosmic rays hitting the Earth's atmosphere cause extensive air showers (EAS). In recent years, these cosmic rays have been extensively studied at the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina. The EAS mainly consist of charged particles, especially electrons and positrons, which cause electro-magnetic emission in the MHz range by interaction with the Earth's magnetic field. To measure this radio emission, AERA, the Auger Engineering Radio Array, was deployed in October 2010 and commenced regular data acquisition in April 2011. AERA was designed as an engineering array for technology and methodology development towards future large-scale radio arrays. It will allow studies on the radio emission mechanism and the physics capabilities of the detection technique. AERA's unique site within the surface detector array (SD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory provides the possibility of coincident hybrid and super-hybrid EAS detection especially in overlap with the fluorescence telescopes Coihueco and HEAT. Besides a description of the setup, we present an overview of analyses of commissioning data taken between November 2010 and April 2011. Also, we show the first hybrid and self-triggered events detected with AERA in April 2011.

Discusses the relation between radio broadcasting and politics in the 1924 presidential campaign, focusing on newspaper and magazine coverage. Notes radio's influence on candidate image, the aspect of censorship, and the use of radio during the campaign and after the election. (MM)

The main features of international regulations on radio communications of the International Telecommunication Union are summarized and the possible effects on these regulations of the World Administrative Radio Conference of 1979 (WARC-79) are discussed in this paper. It is noted that while the international radio regulations are regarded as…

Explains packet radio as a form of telecomputing in which digital data is transported via radio waves instead of telephone lines or other cabling, and describes how it can be used by students to access the Internet. Highlights include packet bulletin board systems and equipment needed for a packet radio station. (LRW)

The history of pirate radio--radio broadcasts offered by unlicensed broadcasters as alternatives to licensed, commercial radio programming--is difficult to trace, both in America and the United Kingdom (UK) since mention of pirate broadcasts of a less-then-thrilling nature are rarely found. Also, until 1927, the U.S. government did not formally…

Recent progresses in low cost—but performing—SDR (software defined radio) technology presents a major breakthrough in the domain of meteor radio observations. Their performances are now good enough for meteor work and should therefore encourage newcomers to join the meteor radio community.

... 46 Shipping 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Radio installations. 129.395 Section 129.395 Shipping... INSTALLATIONS Power Sources and Distribution Systems § 129.395 Radio installations. A separate circuit, with overcurrent protection at the switchboard, must be provided for at least one radio installation....

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... 46 Shipping 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Radio installations. 129.395 Section 129.395 Shipping... INSTALLATIONS Power Sources and Distribution Systems § 129.395 Radio installations. A separate circuit, with overcurrent protection at the switchboard, must be provided for at least one radio installation....

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Radio requirements. 99.9 Section 99.9... AND GENERAL OPERATING RULES SECURITY CONTROL OF AIR TRAFFIC General § 99.9 Radio requirements. (a) A person who operates a civil aircraft into an ADIZ must have a functioning two-way radio, and the...

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Radio requirements. 99.9 Section 99.9... AND GENERAL OPERATING RULES SECURITY CONTROL OF AIR TRAFFIC General § 99.9 Radio requirements. (a) A person who operates a civil aircraft into an ADIZ must have a functioning two-way radio, and the...

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Radio requirements. 99.9 Section 99.9... AND GENERAL OPERATING RULES SECURITY CONTROL OF AIR TRAFFIC General § 99.9 Radio requirements. (a) A person who operates a civil aircraft into an ADIZ must have a functioning two-way radio, and the...

... 46 Shipping 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Radio installations. 129.395 Section 129.395 Shipping... INSTALLATIONS Power Sources and Distribution Systems § 129.395 Radio installations. A separate circuit, with overcurrent protection at the switchboard, must be provided for at least one radio installation....

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Radio installations. 129.395 Section 129.395 Shipping... INSTALLATIONS Power Sources and Distribution Systems § 129.395 Radio installations. A separate circuit, with overcurrent protection at the switchboard, must be provided for at least one radio installation....

This paper examines one of the traditional technologies of distance education, radio, and presents examples of educational and community radio usage in Asia and Africa. Instead of merely transposing western approaches to distance education in developing countries, it is suggested that the developed world can learn from uses of radio in developing…

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Radio requirements. 99.9 Section 99.9... AND GENERAL OPERATING RULES SECURITY CONTROL OF AIR TRAFFIC General § 99.9 Radio requirements. (a) A person who operates a civil aircraft into an ADIZ must have a functioning two-way radio, and the...

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Radio requirements. 99.9 Section 99.9... AND GENERAL OPERATING RULES SECURITY CONTROL OF AIR TRAFFIC General § 99.9 Radio requirements. (a) A person who operates a civil aircraft into an ADIZ must have a functioning two-way radio, and the...

Recent advances in electronics and computing have made possible a new generation of large radio surveys of the sky that yield an order-of-magnitude higher sensitivity and positional accuracy. Combined with the unique properties of the radio universe, these quantitative improvements open up qualitatively different and exciting new scientific applications of radio surveys. PMID:10220365

Recent advances in electronics and computing have made possible a new generation of large radio surveys of the sky that yield an order-of-magnitude higher sensitivity and positional accuracy. Combined with the unique properties of the radio universe, these quantitative improvements open up qualitatively different and exciting new scientific applications of radio surveys. PMID:10220365

Compact steep spectrum (CSS) and GHz-peaked spectrum (GPS) radio sources represent a large fraction of the extragalactic objects in flux density-limited samples. They are compact, powerful radio sources whose synchrotron peak frequency ranges between a few hundred MHz to several GHz. CSS and GPS radio sources are currently interpreted as objects in which the radio emission is in an early evolutionary stage. In this contribution I review the radio properties and the physical characteristics of this class of radio sources, and the interplay between their radio emission and the ambient medium of the host galaxy.

Within the context of investigating possible differences between the mechanisms at play in Radio Loud AGN and those in Radio Quiet ones, we study the spectral characteristics of a selected sample of Intermediate-Luminosity Broad-Line Radio Galaxies in X-rays, optical, IR and radio. Here, we present the radio spectra acquired with the 100-m radio telescope in Effelsberg between 2.6 and 32 GHz. These measurements reveal a large variety of spectral shapes urging for radio imaging that would disclose the source morphology. Such studies could potentially discriminate between different mechanisms.

Analysis of nonthermal radio emission data obtained by the Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA) spectrometers on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft was performed. This PRA data provided unique insights into the radio emission characteristics of the outer planets because of PRA's unique spectral response below the terrestrial ionospheric plasma frequency and its unprecedented proximity to the source. Of those results which were documented or published, this final report surveys only the highlights and cites references for more complete discussions. Unpublished results for Uranus, Neptune, and theoretical Ionian current distributions are presented at greater length. The most important conclusion to be drawn from these observations is that banded spectral emission is common to the radio emission below 1-2 MHz observed from all four Jovian planets. In every case multiple spectral features evolve on time scales of seconds to minutes. To the extent these features drift in frequency, they appear never to cross one another. The Neptunian spectral features appear to drift little or not at all, their evolution consisting principally of waxing and waning. Since other evidence strongly suggests that most or all of this radio emission is occurring near the local magnetospheric electron cyclotron frequency, this implies that this emission preferentially occurs at certain continually changing planetary radii. It remains unknown why certain radii might be favored, unless radial electric field components or other means serve to differentiate radially the magnetospheric plasma density, particle energy vectors, or particle coherence. Calculation of the spatial distribution and intensity of the Io-generated magnetospheric currents are also presented; these currents may be limited principally by wave impedance and local field strengths.

A monolithic RF transceiver for an MB-OFDM UWB system in 3.1-4.8 GHz is presented. The transceiver adopts direct-conversion architecture and integrates all building blocks including a gain controllable wideband LNA, a I/Q merged quadrature mixer, a fifth-order Gm-C bi-quad Chebyshev LPF/VGA, a fast-settling frequency synthesizer with a poly-phase filter, a linear broadband up-conversion quadrature modulator, an active D2S converter and a variable-gain power amplifier. The ESD protected transceiver is fabricated in Jazz Semiconductor's 0.18-μm RF CMOS with an area of 6.1 mm2 and draws a total current of 221 mA from 1.8-V supply. The receiver achieves a maximum voltage gain of 68 dB with a control range of 42 dB in 6 dB/step, noise figures of 5.5-8.8 dB for three sub-bands, and an in-band/out-band IIP3 better than -4 dBm/+9 dBm. The transmitter achieves an output power ranging from -10.7 to -3 dBm with gain control, an output P1dB better than -7.7 dBm, a sideband rejection about 32.4 dBc, and LO suppression of 31.1 dBc. The hopping time among sub-bands is less than 2.05 ns.

The application of integrated satellite and modern wireless positioning technologies for ubiquitous real-time resources management in large scale civil engineering projects can greatly optimize the time and cost in the construction process, and is now the trend for modern construction project management. As the outdoor conditions of most civil construction sites are open to sky, satellite positioning with the popularly used Global Positioning System (GPS) has been proved to be very efficient and effective. However, the condition in indoor and underground construction site is very complicated due to the fact that different construction activities would be carried out in different congested areas, involving heavy construction plant, equipment, professionals and technical personnel. Nowadays different emerging technologies such as Wi-Fi and ZigBee can be adopted for position and tracking in indoor environments. Nevertheless, under the very complicated construction site conditions these technologies may fail due to movement of human resources and construction plant, variation of metrological conditions, and serious multipath effects of signals. It is considered that Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology is more suitable for indoor construction site environments. In this paper, a case study on the attempt of integrating GPS with Ubisense Real-time Location System (RTLS) for resources management in an underground railway construction site is discussed. Laboratory and field tests have shown that the RTLS can provide better resources management capability in terms of positioning accuracy and stability than Wi-Fi and ZigBee technologies under complicated construction environments. The test results show that the system can normally achieve better than 15 cm accuracy, and better than 1 m under adverse geometrical site condition. However, the high instrumental set up cost and the requirement for high quality data transmission cable for high precision time synchronization between

Io's control of Jovian decametric radio emission (DAM) has been attributed to Io distorting the electron distribution in the inner Jovian magnetosphere. Observations of Faraday rotation in DAM are used to determine the properties of the electron distribution before and after its interaction with Io. It is shown that there is an enhancement in the density of the energetic component in the Io plasma torus correlated with certain Jovian longitude. Io's interaction with this energetic component can produce heating of this component. The Io-controlled emission is attributed to enhanced emission from the heated electrons moving down the field lines to Jupiter.

In the frame of the preparation of the NASA/JUNO and ESA/JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer) missions, and the development of a planetary sciences virtual observatory (VO), we are proposing a new set of tools directed to data providers as well as users, in order to ease data sharing and discovery. We will focus on ground based planetary radio observations (thus mainly Jupiter radio emissions), trying for instance to enhance the temporal coverage of jovian decametric emission. The data service we will be using is EPN-TAP, a planetary science data access protocol developed by Europlanet-VESPA (Virtual European Solar and Planetary Access). This protocol is derived from IVOA (International Virtual Observatory Alliance) standards. The Jupiter Routine Observations from the Nancay Decameter Array are already shared on the planetary science VO using this protocol. Amateur radio data from the RadioJOVE project is also available. We will first introduce the VO tools and concepts of interest for the planetary radioastronomy community. We will then present the various data formats now used for such data services, as well as their associated metadata. We will finally show various prototypical tools that make use of this shared datasets.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) builds, operates, and maintains a suite of premier radio antennas, including the 100m aperture Green Bank Telescope, the largest fully-steerable antenna in the world. For more than five decades the NRAO has focused on astrophysics, providing researchers with the most advanced instruments possible: large apertures, extremely low-noise receivers, and signal processors with high frequency and time resolution. These instruments are adaptable to Space Situational Awareness (SSA) tasks such as radar detection of objects in near-Earth and cis-Lunar space, high accuracy orbit determination, object surveillance with passive methods, and uplink and downlink communications. We present the capabilities of antennas and infrastructure at the NRAO Green Bank Observatory in the context of SSA tasks, and discuss what additions and modifications would be necessary to achieve SSA goals while preserving existing radio astronomy performance. We also discuss how the Green Bank Observatory's surrounding topography and location within the National Radio Quiet Zone will enhance SSA endeavors.

College radio is quite often viewed as the true alternative to commercial radio. However, what is alternative radio and how does college radio factor into the ideal? To further understand this concept, this paper focuses on the role of alternative programming in college radio. Areas discussed include alternative radio as a non-mainstream form of…

Describes radio applications for education and summarizes radio activities for elementary and secondary school classrooms. Discusses teaching the history of radio communications; AM-FM radio; international shortwave broadcasts; NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather service broadcasts; scanner radios; and amateur radios.…